press rank #21 · ~$2,100/mo

Can you live unwatched in France?

Olympics-era camera surveillance and encryption-backdoor bills test its civil-liberties reputation.

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The privacy scorecard

State surveillance3/5
Facial recognition2/5
No national ID2/5
Data-protection law5/5
Encryption3/5
VPN freedom5/5
Democracy4/5
Free expression4/5
Cash still works4/5
Financial privacy2/5
Crypto freedom4/5
Easy to stay3/5
Off-grid living4/5
12 cameras / 1,000 people press rank #21 ~$2,100/mo national average

Childhood vaccines: compulsory by law13 in total

Eleven vaccines became compulsory in 2018. Two meningococcal vaccines were added in January 2025, so children born from 2023 owe thirteen.

If you skip them: No place in a creche, a preschool or a school. Parents get three months from the start of the school year to begin.

Exemptions: Medical only, and rarely granted.

Source: French vaccination schedule 2025, health ministry

Legal & financial exposure

Facts about the law, not a privacy score: whether each one helps or hurts depends on what you are trying to do.

Reports your account balances abroad (CRS)

Extradition treaty with the US

Crypto capital gains are taxed

Flat 30% tax on capital gains for occasional investors.

ISPs must retain your connection logs

Providers are required to retain connection data, reaffirmed after successive court challenges.

3 of 7 signals are unverified for this country: not shown, rather than guessed.

71 real place in France

Facial recognition, Bitcoin friendliness and cost vary by city even inside the same country.

Paris

~$2,400/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Marseille

~$1,900/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Lyon

~$2,150/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Toulouse

~$2,050/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Nice

~$2,300/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Nantes

~$2,100/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Montpellier

~$2,100/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Strasbourg

~$2,050/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Bordeaux

~$2,150/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Rennes

~$2,000/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Dijon

~$1,850/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Grenoble

~$2,050/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Weigh France against your own threat model

Surveillance, speech, money: filter thousands of real places across every country and see where France actually ranks.

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Not just privacy?

Arcadia matches the same real places against how you actually want to live: weather, cost, healthcare, schools, internet.

Find where to live on Arcadia

Country-level estimates for orientation, not legal advice. Surveillance law changes fast: verify anything you would act on.