Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
Browse additional economic indicators and data sets, selected by Global Finance editors, to learn more about France economic outlook, debt to GDP ratio, international trade performance and population trends. Rankings of France best banks and safest banks are also available.
The 2023 Social Security Financing Adjustment Law raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, with a requirement that the retiree has worked at least 43 years; otherwise, workers must wait until they turn 67.
USD 166.7 billion (2018)
International Monetary Fund (IMF), data retrieved October 2019
Intl$ 2,962.8 billion (2018, estimate)
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 2.4% | 2.4% | 0.2% | -2.9% | 2% | 2.1% | 0.2% |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* | ||
| 0.6% | 0.6% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 1.4% |
*Estimate
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2017* |
| 4.52% | 4.19% | 3.46% | 2.68% | 2.3% |
*Estimate
(2016 estimate)
2.3% (2014)
OECD, data retrieved January 2017
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 1.0% |
*Estimate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 10.3% | 10.3% | 10.4% | 9.8% | 9.6% |
*Estimate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 92.4% | 95.3% | 96.1% | 97.2% | 97.8% |
*Estimate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| -4% | -4% | -3.5% | -3.3% | -3% |
*Estimate
Standard & Poor's: AA
Moody's: Aa2
Standard & Poor's / Moody's (Updated January 2017)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 2301.1 billion | USD 2085.9 billion | USD 2088.3 billion |
BNP Paribas, AXA Group, Total, Sanofi, EADS, Credit Agricole, Société Générale, Orange, Renault, VINCI, L'Oréal Group, Christian Dior, Schneider Electric, EDF, Saint-Gobain, Carrefour, CNP Assurances, Danone, Natixis, Air Liquide, Peugeot, Michelin Group, Vivendi, GDF SUEZ, Pernod Ricard, CIC Group, Thales, Veolia Environnement, Kering, Publicis Groupe, Bouygues, Capgemini, Sodexo, Unibail-Rodamco, Scor, Safran, Essilor International, Valeo, Eiffage, Hermès International, Finatis, ATOS, Gecina, Financiere de l'Odet, Air France-KLM, Legrand, Alstom, Technip, Dassault Systemes, Aeroports de Paris, Foncière des Régions, Klepierre, Iliad, Wendel, Rexel, Accor, Eurazeo, Dassault Aviation, Arkema, Areva, Eutelsat Communications.
-0.4% (2017 estimate)
30.0% (2015)
3.1% (2015)
5.0% (2015)
Machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages
Machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, aircraft, plastics, chemicals
Germany 15.9%, Spain 7.3%, US 7.2%, Italy 7.1%, UK 7.1%, Belgium 6.8% (2015)
Germany 19.5%, Belgium 10.7%, Italy 7.7%, Netherlands 7.5%, Spain 6.8%, US 5.5%, China 5.4%, UK 4.3% (2015)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 42,892 million | USD 15,191 million | USD 42,883 million |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 24,997 million | USD 42,869 million | USD 35,069 million |
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD -3051.0 million | USD 2809.9 million | USD 13809.3 million | USD 23506.1 million |
Numericable Group SA, Societe Francaise du Radiotelephone SA, France, USD 23.1 billion / Schneider Electric SA, Invensys PLC, United Kingdom, USD 5.2 billion
Klepierre SA, Corio NV, Netherlands, USD 5.5 billion / Orange SA, Jazztel PLC, Spain, USD 4.3 billion / Cap Gemini SA, iGATE Corp, United States, USD 3.9 billion / Publicis Groupe SA, Sapient Corp, United States, USD 3.7 billion
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
Overall ranking: 29 out of 190 countries (2016)
Subcategories:
Starting a business: 27 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 18 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 100 out of 190 countries
Getting credit: 82 out of 190 countries
Protecting investors: 32 out of 190 countries
Trading across border: 1 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 63 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 20 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 25 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 24 out of 190 countries
21 out of 138 countries
(2016-2017)
Ranking: 75 / Score: 62.32 (Moderately free) (2017)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed)
French (official) 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)
Overseas departments: French, Creole patois, Mahorian (a Swahili dialect)
Christian (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic) 63-66%, Muslim 7-9%, Buddhist 0.5-0.75%, Jewish 0.5-0.75%, other 0.5-1.0%, none 23-28%
Note: France maintains a tradition of secularism and has not officially collected data on religious affiliation since the 1872 national census, which complicates assessments of France's religious composition; an 1872 law prohibiting state authorities from collecting data on individuals' ethnicity or religious beliefs was reaffirmed by a 1978 law emphasizing the prohibition of the collection or exploitation of personal data revealing an individual's race, ethnicity, or political, philosophical, or religious opinions; a 1905 law codified France's separation of church and state (2015 est.)
| 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2016* | 2021* |
| 56.577 million | 58.858 million | 62.765 million | 64.569 million | 66.061 million |
*Estimate
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2015 |
| 62% | 73% | 76% | 80% |
33.1 (2012)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Political Rights: 1
Civil Liberties: 2 (2017)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)
Fixed 59.91% Mobile 102.61% (2015)
(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)