This consultation on the role of mathematics in the lives of citizens took place from March 10 to July 5, 2025. Its aim was to make your voices heard: to find out your perceptions, what mathematics means to you, and to get your opinions.
The results of this citizen consultation were presented at the Palais du Luxembourg (French Senate) on December 8, 2025.
For the first time, the CNRS has given French citizens a voice on their relationship with science, specifically mathematics. Launched on March 10, 2025, the national consultation “Aux maths citoyennes, citoyens !” (Citizens, get involved in maths!) examined the role of mathematics in society and identified ways to promote understanding and access to this science. This CNRS initiative is a continuation of the Assises des mathématiques (2022) and contributes to the national debate on access to mathematics at all stages of life.
Discover the results of this initiative.
Between March and July 2025, more than 33,000 participants participated in an online consultation, supplemented by 40 workshops organized throughout the country and two citizen panels. The latter brought together 46 non-experts over six days with one goal: to reflect on the question, “How can we improve access to mathematics for everyone, at all ages?”
This consultation provided a better understanding of the expectations, needs, and obstacles related to the practice and learning of mathematics. In total, more than one million contributions were collected, making this initiative one of the most extensive participatory efforts ever conducted on a scientific discipline.
Contents of the results booklet:
To learn more, download the detailed results of the citizen consultation.
See also the appendices to the consultation:
Read the press release about this initiative.
Article “Des citoyens souhaitent plus de maths en famille et à tout âge" (Citizens want more math in the family and at all ages), by David Larousserie, published online on December 8, 2025, in Le Monde.
Article “Les recettes du CNRS pour démystifier les mathématiques" (The CNRS's recipes for demystifying mathematics), by Marie-Christine Corbier, published online on December 9, 2025, in Les Echos.
TV Program “Mathématiques, même pas peur ? Parlons-en avec C. Villani, C. Voisin, C. Besse et E. Dalençon” (Maths, nothing to be afraid of? Let's talk about it with C. Villani, C. Voisin, C. Besse and E. Dalençon), hosted by Pauline Paccard on France 24 on December 9, 2025.
Article « "Nous ne resterons pas un grand pays scientifique sans investir dans les mathématiques" (Antoine Petit, CNRS) », par Léonard de Carlo,
Émission « Le Grand JT de l'Éducation (16/12/2025) - Quelle place dans la société pour les mathématiques ? », diffusée le 16/12/25 sur SQOOL TV
From March 10 to April 30, 2025, CNRS Mathematics organized a major national consultation on the place of mathematics in our society. The results of this citizen consultation will be presented at the Palais du Luxembourg (French Senate) on December 8, 2025.
France is a global leader in mathematical research. It is the second most awarded nation in terms of Fields Medals (the most prestigious award in mathematics), and mathematics is the discipline for which French universities are most highly ranked in global university rankings1 .
Nevertheless, the situation of mathematics in France is a cause for concern. The general level of mathematics among the population as a whole is declining2 , and careers in mathematics are struggling to attract students (there are regularly fewer applicants than positions available). Finally, the practice of mathematics remains highly gendered and selective.
However, proficenc in mathematics is essential in our lives. For counting, measuring, optimizing, and making decisions. It forms the basis of many everyday actions and is essential for functioning in a society as digital and mathematical as ours. Mathematics also plays a structuring role in the development of critical and scientific thinking and enables the analysis of numerical information and orders of magnitude.
This is why CNRS Mathematics of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) is conducting a broad reflection to imagine an ambitious place and broad access to mathematics in French society. An “Assises des mathématiques” (Mathematics national Conference) was already held in 2022 with all the key players in mathematics in France.
CNRS Mathematics wishes to open this discussion to the entire population and is launching a major citizen consultation on March 10, 2025, during Mathematics Week: « Aux maths citoyennes, citoyens ! Grande consultation nationale » (“Citizens, get involved in math! Major national consultation").
CNRS Mathematics wants to give as many people as possible a voice through online consultation and citizen workshops. The institute also wants to focus on disparities in access to mathematics throughout life. The two panels will therefore be made of people who are likely to be exposed to forms of exclusion related to mathematics (linked to gender, social background, or geography).
Organized by CNRS Mathematics from March 10 to April 30, 2025, the online questionnaire “Aux maths citoyennes, citoyens ! Grande consultation nationale” (Citizens, get involved in math! Major national consultation) gathered more than 1.1 million contributions from over 33,000 participants. This was a historic success for an unprecedented initiative in science, with the overall results to be published in fall 2025.
Thanks to an exceptional mobilization of citizens, this consultation brought together more than 33,000 participants, who expressed more than 365,000 verbatim comments and more than 1 million contributions. The anonymous online questionnaire consisted of around 20 questions and took 5 to 15 minutes to complete. Aimed at everyone, the goal was to gather citizens' perceptions and desires regarding mathematics. The results are currently being analyzed and will be presented to the Senate in the fall of 2025.
During Mathematics Week, Christophe Besse, director of CNRS Mathematics, and lead coordinator of the “Aux maths citoyennes et citoyens” (Citizens, get invovled in maths !) project, will be the guest on the 6:20 a.m. show. More info: https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinte...
With over 33,000 participants, there was a relatively even distribution across genders and age groups. However, the most represented professional categories were executives and higher intellectual professions. The Ile-de-France region has the highest number of participants, followed by Haute-Garonne and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. This is an online questionnaire, a snapshot in time, which is highly informative, but the responses do not correspond to a representative sample of society and the overall results should not be taken as such.
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In parallel with the online questionnaire, around thirty workshops were organized to bring together interested or curious individuals in person. Lasting between 30 and 90 minutes, the aim of these workshops was to facilitate group discussions in order to gather perceptions and experiences of mathematics.
A communication campaign ran throughout the consultation period, covering digital media, social networks, the media, and posters. The press and digital components (including a display campaign and a social media campaign) were given high priority.
Influencers were also mobilized to share their own relationships with mathematics and encourage their communities to participate in the consultation.
The campaign's posters and kakemonos were displayed throughout the country, from bakeries to mathematics laboratories, libraries, hair salons, and numerous events.
The results are currently being analyzed and will feed into the work of two panels of citizens who will meet for six days/three full weekends between June and July.
The panels will focus on issues of access to mathematics for all throughout life. With this in mind, they will be made up of people who are particularly affected by forms of exclusion related to mathematics. One panel will be composed exclusively of women, representative of the diversity of the French population, in order to reflect on issues of access in a single-sex environment. The other will bring together people from modest socio-professional backgrounds and rural areas. These two groups will work in parallel, while benefiting from joint discussion time to share their thoughts and enrich the debate.
Find here the complete list of questions in the online survey for the consultation “Aux maths citoyennes, citoyens ! Grande consultation nationale" (Citizens, get involved in maths! Major national consultation).
The online survey consisted of 20 questions with different answer options. No question was mandatory. The questionnaire was divided into four sections: you and mathematics, learning mathematics, mathematics in France, and mathematics tomorrow.
Open-ended question, three possible key words.
Choose one of the following options:
Multiple choice question from these options:
Conditional open question (limited character count).
Open question: short paragraph allowed.
Open question: short paragraph allowed.
Choose one of the following options:
Multiple choice question (3 max) from these options:
Open question: short paragraph allowed.
Choose one of the following options:
Multiple choice question (3 max) from these options:
Conditional open question (limited character count).
Matrix question (agree/disagree/don't know) with the following response options:
Choose one of the following options:
Conditional open question (limited character count).
Matrix question (agree/disagree/don't know) with the following response options:
Conditional open question (limited character count).
Open question: short paragraph allowed.
Open question: short paragraph allowed.
Open question: short paragraph allowed.
For this major public consultation, CNRS Mathematics wishes to raise awareness among everyone about the presence, role, and importance of mathematics in their lives.
Don't wait to find out where mathematics comes into play in Clément and Adina's day and immerse yourself in different topics such as the environment or mathematics in the service of critical thinking.
Let's work together to break down some misconceptions about the place of mathematics in society.
Feel free to share this citizen consultation with your friends and family using the communication kit.
You can contribute to this citizen consultation by organizing workshops to gather the perceptions and experiences of as many people as possible about mathematics.
This facilitation kit is intended for anyone who wishes to organize a discussion with a few participants on the subject of mathematics. You can organize it whenever and wherever you like. In order for the results to be taken into account in the national consultation “Aux maths citoyennes, citoyens !” (Citizens, get involved in maths!), you must share them via an online tool after the workshop.
The workshop is designed to be divided into several 30-minute sessions. You can offer just one session or several in a row (the order doesn't matter), but be sure to allow 30 minutes per session. Discussing all of the questions/sessions takes about two hours.
