French Polynesia
Capital: Papeete · Oceania
French Polynesia ( POL-ih-NEE-zhə; French: Polynésie française [pɔlinezi fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; Tahitian: Pōrīnetia farāni) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole overseas country; it is classified as a non-self-governing territory by the United Nations. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. French Polynesia is associated with the European Union as an overseas country and territory (OCT). The total land area of French Polynesia is 3,521 square kilometres (1,359 sq mi), with a population of 282,596 as of September 2025 of which at least 205,000 live in the Society Islands and the remaining population lives in the rest of the archipelago. French Polynesia is divided into five island groups: the Austral Islands; the Gambier Islands; the Marquesas Islands; the Society Islands (comprising
French Polynesia in world rankings
- 183rd largest by population in the world (of 219)
- 175th largest by area in the world (of 219)
- Capital
- Papeete
- Population
- 280,000
- Area
- 4,167 km²
- Currency
- —
- Calling code
- +689
- Languages
- —
French Polynesia compared with Taiwan
How French Polynesia measures up against Taiwan — home to 23.3 million people across 36,193 km².
Airports in French Polynesia 44
Explore French Polynesia by category
Country fields from Wikidata (CC0); flag via Wikimedia Commons; profile from the CIA World Factbook (public domain); travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA); GDP, GDP per capita and life expectancy from World Bank Open Data (CC BY 4.0).