<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Third Estate comprised all of those who were not members of the above and can be divided into two groups, urban and rural, together making up 98% of France's population . The urban included wage - labourers . The rural included free peasants (who owned their own land) who could be prosperous and villeins (serfs, or peasants working on a noble's land). The free peasants paid disproportionately high taxes compared to the other Estates and were unhappy because they wanted more rights . In addition, the First and Second Estates relied on the labour of the Third, which made the latter's unequal status all the more glaring . </P> <P> There were an estimated 27 million people in the Third Estate when the French Revolution started . </P>

Members of the third estate were led by