-
Photos: four historic French châteaux on sale for under €1 million
Grand abandoned properties are looking for new owners
-
France's Favourite Village 2025: when and how to tune in
We look at the shortlist of 14 villages vying to win the title in tomorrow's (July 2) television announcement
-
One dead after violent storm, mudslide and flooding in Savoie and Italy
‘Worst flooding in 70 years’ cuts rail and road traffic across Alps
More households than ever in France
Number of households in France jumps 4.2million in 14 years - but they are getting smaller, according to official figures

The size of French families is falling, according to official figures.
The average number of people living in the same property in France is 2.2, government statistics body l'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (Insee) revealed on Monday.
France had 28.5 million households in 2013, the latest date for which figures are available and which formed the basis of Insee's analysis. That is 4.2 million more than in 1999, when the household average was 2.4 people. In 1851, France had an average of four people living in each house.
The reduction in the average size of households can be explained by societal changes since the 1970s. The population of France is ageing, while divorces and separations have led to smaller families.
Single people now make up more than a third of households in France, Insee said, with older people making up the greatest number of single-person households. In 2013, 38% of people aged 75 and over lived alone.
Meanwhile, single-parent families make up on in five households in France, the figures reveal, compared to one in 10 as recently as 1990.