The General Well-Being Schedule (GWB) is a questionnaire that is frequently used in large-scale epidemiological surveys to evaluate the psychological health of a given population. In spite of its popularity, it appears that no validation study has been done on a French version of the instrument. The present study proposes a French version of the GWB and establishes its psychometric qualities based on a sample of 369 subjects, 179 of whom are bilingual. The subjects were recruited through notices placed in the different francophone and anglophone media. The questionnaires were mailed to the subjects. First, the results show a very strong correlation between the translated version and the original version of the questionnaire (r = 0.88, p < 0.0001). The internal consistency of the French version is estimated at 0.92 and its test-retest reliability at 0.82 (95% CI: 0.71–0.89). Correlations between the total score on the general well-being scale and measures of depression and anxiety are over 0.70. Principal component analysis applied to the French and English versions of the questionnaire suggests the presence of a main factor which accounts for 50 per cent of the variance. This study provides a French version of the GWB that may justifiably be considered reliable and valid. Validation of the questionnaire should be pursued by establishing normative values for the elderly francophone population and by studying its responsiveness.