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Latest update: 28/06/2011
French are the cleanest in Europe, study finds
Despite a persistent negative stereotype about French hygiene practices - which at least one historian says has a ring of truth - a study has found that the French may actually be more fastidious than their European neighbours.
By Tony Todd (text)
If cleanliness is next to godliness, then the French – and especially French women – are among the most saintly in Europe, according to a 2010 study.
Confounding certain longstanding negative stereotypes, a survey by US consulting firm United Minds for Tena (a Swedish manufacturer of personal hygiene products) found that 97% of women in France feel ill at ease going out without having washed their hands or brushed their teeth, compared to 84% of Germans.
And 94% of them feel uncomfortable leaving the house if they have not showered, as opposed to only 74% of women in Britain.
The poll also found that the French dedicate more time to the pursuit of cleanliness, with French men spending 35 minutes a day on attending to personal hygiene and women taking an average of 46 minutes – more than all other European countries.
It was not always thus: of those surveyed in France, 42% of men and 45% of women said they are more attentive to their cleanliness now than they were a decade ago.
A historically negative image
According to historian Georges Vigarello, a specialist in hygiene, the recent improvements are down to a growing conception that people are defined by their bodies, rather than by what they do with them.
But this does not explain why the French have suffered from a somewhat negative reputation in terms of their personal hygiene practices, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries.
Vigarello conceded that historically there was a grain of truth to these assumptions, but noted that it applied only to the poorer classes and “not to the nobility or the bourgeoisie”.
“If you compare London and Paris in the 18th and 19th centuries, the hygiene situation for the poor and the working classes was equally deplorable,” he told FRANCE 24.
“But in England, the development of a decent water supply infrastructure happened much earlier than in France, so ordinary people in British cities began to wash more. A visitor to France in the mid- to late 19th century would have noticed the difference.”
For Vigarello, the good news is that standards have improved everywhere.
“Even if the French are slightly ahead, the standards of personal hygiene in the 21st century are pretty much the same in all European countries,” he said.
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Comments (26)
joke of the day for me! just
joke of the day for me! just think about the smell in RER or metro trains, regular "gastro" epidemies (got much smaller with the swine flu hysteria - people started to wash their hands!), head lice warnings in schools and drugstores "decorations" when the school starts, not to mention the lack of handwash facilities in the private loos ("lave-mains") - in ca. 70% houses they don't exist and there, where they do exist, are simply used to store the magasines & newspapers = nobody uses them....
ps: I'm not English or American, but I do live in France
the cleanest???
Is a joke this one, it's impossible because the people from france have problems with personal hygiene. A lot of people from france are gypsy and they dont know nothing about water or soap. Probable the article was writed by a french man.
FRENCH CLEANINESS
French are the fastidiously cleanest people in the world. The smelly people in Paris or anywhere else in France are tourists and foreigners.
CLEANLINESS
Totally agree!
French public toilets
The French people I know all appear to be fastidious about their personal hygiene. It would be easy to condemn the French for the appalling state of many public toilets. If only they would follow the German example where five star public toilets are the norm.
English Teeth, French handwashing
The English improved their teeth in the 70s or so. I'm not sure when. I think the American Dental Association was 20 years out ahead of promoting oral hygiene over it's English counterpart, but the English did catch up. Nowadays, the oral hygiene situation is about equal, with perhaps a slightly higher tendency for Americans to get braces for non-functional, cosmetic reasons.
As for the French, they've improved too. They shower almost as much as Americans, though you more often find public toilets that lack decent hand soap or sanitizer, especially at large events and festivals. I've never seen portable toilets in France with hand sanitizer stations. In the US, it's common, though not 100%.
Saying the French are the
Saying the French are the cleanest Europeans is like saying you're the greatest athlete in the Special Olympics.
What sort of ignoramuses are
What sort of ignoramuses are commenting on this article? Must be a lot of narrow minded English and Americans as all I can say. If there was a survey for the most narrow minded people in Europe I think we all know who would win.
dignity
Congrats to the French. I remember a survey taken in 1972 where only half the people had a tooth brush. Also, I remember reading where German men changed underwear only once a week. The English also could use more hygeine.The English are joked about here in America, with there teeth problems..
dignity
Congrats to the French. I remember a survey taken in 1972 where only half the people had a tooth brush. Also, I remember reading where German men changed underwear only once a week. The English also could use more hygeine.The English are joked about here in America, with there teeth problems..
Mmmm, well, they haven't been
Mmmm, well, they haven't been standing in the same supermarket queues as me!
Cleanliness
You still get the problem with the French wiping their noses on their fingers . However this is also widespread in the UK and Germany also .
Smelling is believing!
Well, I guess then most of the participants must have lied... Seeing -or to be more precise- smelling is believing! And anyway, washing hands or brushing the teeth is the least one can do. From my experience at work -at a Swiss University- the majority of the many French colleagues do not... shower regularly and this needs no survey to verify it! Actually they live up to their reputation...Sorry.
cleanliness is not french
During my vacations I found the French to be almost as filthy as the pigs in the pen. Who did this study and how many people did they survey. Sort of sounds like the rest of the world on the United States...We hate them but actually we envy them. The French the cleanest in Europe is sort of an oxymoron.
personal hygiene in France
According to Le Figaro, late Nov. 1998,only 47% Frenchmen bathed daily, 67% brushed teeth daily, 40% washed hands after using toilet. Six percent never wash hands!Social historian Zarifian mentions a campaign to remind French doctors and nurses to wash hands before and after each patient visit.
Wake up and smell the BO
You only have to travel on the metro or bus to get the stench emanating from some people. I suppose you can't blame them, a lot of people in Paris live in rooms without toilets or washing facilities, but to say the French are the cleanest people in Europe sounds like the survey must have been done in parts of France I've never been to. They only just got rid of holes in the ground they used to call toilets in many cafes and restaurants. Not an ideal way to behave.
You can't find soap in most French wc's
The French are the cleanest in Europe and Queen Elizabeth II speaks perfect Italian with a Florentine accent. Heheheheh
yes ...
...and monkeys will fly out of your butt!
Ha ha! I love this story! Not
Ha ha! I love this story! Not washing daily was perhaps true back in the 1950s in France when not everyone had access to a bathroom but nowadays a daily shower is totally the norm.
In New York City I have
In New York City I have smelled the most people with revolting BO ever.
I travel quite a bit but the BO of New Yorkers people is truthfully something one has to experience
In New York City I have
In New York City I have smelled the most people with revolting BO ever.
I travel quite a bit but the BO of New Yorkers is truthfully something one should avoid.
French Hygene
France would be a lot cleaner (and nicer) if the locals were forced to clean up the dogshit their dogs leave on the streets.
Prejudice
Too bad people who have that prejudiced stero-type stuck in their heads will not care if that their "facts" are correct...
it's the filthy smoking that
it's the filthy smoking that supports the reputation
You have got to be kidding
In Paris I have smelled the most people with revolting BO ever.
I travel quite a bit but the BO of French people is truthfully something one has to experience
What's this say about the
What's this say about the rest of Europe ?
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