France is a country of more than 60 million inhabitants, where indicators of health quality are favourable, with one of the longest life expectancies in the world, and one of the lowest rates of neonatal mortality. The burden of vascular diseases is smaller than in surrounding European countries of similar size (United Kingdom and Germany), even for stroke. However, the direct cost of health care provided to stroke patients is estimated between 2 and 2.5 billion Euros per year.