France
Résumé
France is a unitary semi-presidential republic and a member of the European Union. On 1st January2012, the country had a population of 65.3 million. In 2010, it had a very high Human DevelopmentIndex (HDI) of 0.872. This figure notably takes into account French life expectancy, which is oneof the longest in the world.Created in 1945, the "sécurité sociale" is a cornerstone of the French social protectionsystem. The institution's mission is to provide financial assistance to its beneficiaries when theyencounter costly life events. The health care arm (that includes pregnancy, disability and death) isthus a model of "Universal health care" and funds a substantial portion of the health care system, with the rest falling to private insurance, often through non-profit mutual insurers. The number of doctors per 1,000 inhabitants (3.22 in 2008) is one of the highest in the world. In 2010, the WHOconcluded its global evaluation of health care systems by underlining that France provided "close to best overall health care" in the world.The French mental health care system is organized within this framework.