  We give an upper bound on the number of rational points of an arbitrary
Zariski closed subset of a projective space over a finite field. This bound
depends only on the dimensions and degrees of the irreducible components and
holds for very general varieties, even reducible and non equidimensional. As a
consequence, we prove a conjecture of Ghorpade and Lachaud on the maximal
number of rational points of an equidimensional projective variety.
