France is a transcontinental state. Its overseas territory extends into the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as South America. The only country in the world to exercise sovereignty over territories spread over three oceans and two continents, it plays an important geopolitical role at the global level, thanks to an extensive network of embassies and consulates, and it has military bases on all continents. France has in the seas the second exclusive economic zone in the world, to which is added an extension of the continental shelf of 579,000 km2, and it is one of the leading countries in the world for the variety of its maritime environments and their biodiversity. In 2018, the population of France was approximately 67.8 million inhabitants, 65,018,000 in metropolitan regions, 2,777,200 in overseas regions.