French economy

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France
Flag of France.svg
World economic rank 5. (nominal) (2018)
currency Euro (EUR)
Trade
organizations 		EU , WTO , OECD
Key figures
Gross domestic
product (GDP) 		$ 3,025 billion (nominal) (2018)
$ 2,960 billion (PPP) (2018)
GDP per capita $ 38,128 (nominal) (2016)
$ 42,314 (PPP) (2016)
GDP by economic sector Agriculture : 1.7% (2009)
Industry : 18.8% (2009)
Services : 79.4% (2009)
growth   + 0.5% ( Q3 2017)
inflation rate 1.2% (2017)
Employed 30.68 million (2017)
Employed persons by economic sector Agriculture : 2.5% (2009)
Industry : 20% (2009)
Services : 77.5% (2009)
Activity rate 40% (real)
Unemployment rate 9.7% (September 2017)
Foreign trade
export € 455.99 billion (2015)
Export goods Capital and production goods, consumer goods, food
Export partner Germany : 16.1% (2016)
Spain : 10.9% (2016)
United States : 7.3% (2016) Italy : 7.3%
import € 515.94 billion (2015)
Import goods Investment and production goods, consumer goods, energy sources
Import partner Germany : 16.4% (2008)
Belgium : 8.6% (2008)
Italy : 8.2% (2008)
Foreign trade balance € −59.95 billion (2015)
public finances
Public debt 99.3% of GDP (Q32017)
Government revenue 53.0% of GDP (2016)
Government spending 56.4% of GDP (2016)
Budget balance 3.4% of GDP (2016)

The economy of France is the sixth largest economy in the world in terms of absolute gross domestic product (GDP), after the USA , the People's Republic of China , Japan , Germany and the United Kingdom . In Europe it is considered the most important industrial country next to Germany. The government of France actively influences the French economy, which is why it is often referred to as a managed economy . The economy is considered to be relatively broad and dependent on foreign trade and financial markets on average; it got through the financial and economic crisis around 2009 somewhat better than other industrialized countries .

Economic sectors

Agriculture

Since the 1960s, it has been largely shaped by the common agricultural policy of the European Community , now the European Union . In some regions arable farming dominates , in others animal husbandry . There are Mediterranean products in the south of France; Tropical products such as bananas are also harvested in the overseas departments .

30 million hectares - around 55% of the national territory of France and around 23% of the total agricultural area in the EU - are used for agriculture. There are animal fodder plants on around 14.6 million hectares of cultivated land, and grain on 9 million hectares.

The acreage has been almost unchanged for 50 years; the number of farms has fallen sharply: in 1970 it was 1.6 million; In 2007 there were around 527,000. Many mixed farms with mixed crops and livestock have given way to specialized farms. Similarly, the number of people employed in agriculture fell from 2 million in 1988 to around 1.02 million in 2007, of which around 85% work in the domestic family business.

The macroeconomic importance of agriculture is low with a share of 1.7% of GDP . Nevertheless, France (as of 2009) is the second largest exporter globally, after the USA. For example, wine, champagne , grain and dairy products are exported.

Industry

French industry gained importance after the Second World War. The first oil crisis (1973/74) and other factors ended a long period of growth in the 1970s. Construction of numerous nuclear power plants began in France in the 1970s. In 1981 the Parti socialiste president came to power for the first time. For a few years he nationalized certain French industrial companies. Attempts were also made to reduce the historically grown concentration on Paris and to strengthen other regions of France industrially.

France has few raw materials; For a long time it obtained many raw materials from its colonies . Industry has a share of around 19% of GDP. Some of the strongest sectors in French industry include telecommunications, aerospace, defense, automotive, pharmaceuticals and food. Well-known and large companies are z. B. Orange , EADS , PSA Peugeot Citroën , Renault , Michelin , Alstom , Alcatel , Sanofi-Aventis , Saint-Gobain , Lafarge , Arcelor , L'Oréal and Danone (see also CAC40 , a stock market index).

The automotive industry suffers (as of 2010) from a decline in sales on the European market; it has cut more than half of its jobs since 1980, has no upper-class models and it hardly produces in the growth markets of India , China and Brazil .

tourism

France was the destination of around 76 million foreign visitors in 2010. It is one of the most visited countries in the world. Around a sixth of the foreign visitors were British and German.

The share of tourism in GDP was around 6.3% in 2006; two million jobs were directly and indirectly dependent on tourism. With 32 billion euros, France accounted for 6.3% of world tourism income. Only the US and Spain took more.

Institutions like Maison de la France , the National Agency for Holiday Checks and the public interest group ODIT France are trying to make France more attractive as a travel destination. Rural tourism is well developed, for example through associations such as Gîtes de France .

Popular destinations in 2009 were: the Louvre Museum (8.4 million visitors), the Eiffel Tower (6.9 million visitors), the Palace of Versailles (5.6 million visitors), the Pompidou Center (5.5 million visitors) ), the Mont-Saint-Michel (3.5 million visitors) and the Museum d'Orsay (3 million visitors).

Finance and banking sector

France is home to some major financial service providers. In 2008, this area generated around 80 billion euros, which corresponds to a share of 4.6% of GDP.

The largest banks in the country include BNP Paribas , Crédit Agricole , Société Générale and Crédit Lyonnais .

The Paris Stock Exchange merged with the NYSE in 2007 and was renamed NYSE Euronext . The merger was reversed in 2013/14 .

The French insurance sector was the fifth largest in the world in 2009 with annual sales of around 200 billion euros. It employed about 200,000 people. The largest insurance companies were AXA , CNP and Allianz France .

capital

According to a study by Bank Credit Suisse from 2017, France ranked sixth worldwide in terms of total national wealth . Total real estate, stocks, and cash holdings totaled $ 12,969 billion. Per adult it is 263,399 US dollars on average and 119,720 US dollars in the median (in Germany: 203,946 and 47,091 US dollars). In terms of median wealth, France ranks among the top 10 wealthiest nations. Higher average assets than in Germany can mainly be explained by the larger proportion of property owners.

Overall, 39.8% of the population's total wealth was financial wealth and 60.2% was non-financial wealth. The Gini coefficient for wealth distribution was 70.2 in 2017, which indicates a relatively moderate wealth inequality. The top 10% of the French population owned 53.7% of the property and the top 1% owned 21.6% of the property. France is deeply involved in wealth redistribution and has less inequality than most other industrialized countries. A total of 25.3% of the population had personal net worth less than $ 10,000 and 4% had net worth more than $ 1 million. In mid-2018 there were 38 billionaires in France. The richest Frenchman was Bernard Arnault with a fortune of around 80 billion US dollars.

Current economic situation
(Source: Eurostat )

Economic growth (GDP) was 0.01% in 2012 and 0.27% in 2013. The average growth between 2005 and 2010 was 0.6%. In July 2014, 3.3 million people (10.2%) were unemployed, an all-time high since the record began in 1955. In 2014, over 500,000 more people were unemployed than in 2007. In 2014, the national debt exceeded 2,000 billion euros. In 2008 the national debt was 64% of GDP at the time and 94% of GDP in 2014.

Since the introduction of the euro, France's exports have lost a third of their world market share. The industrial share of French GDP fell from 18% to 12.6%. France's share of world exports has fallen from more than 6% in 2000 to 4% in 2012. In 2012, the government spending ratio in France was 57%, one of the highest of any industrialized country. 23% of all employees in France work in the public sector.

The French automotive industry sold as many units in 2013 as in 1997, almost 1.8 million vehicles. The EU supports the industry massively (as of 2013). The rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded France's creditworthiness from AAA to AA + in 2012 and from AA + to AA in November 2013.

Key figures

Various macroeconomic indicators of the French economy from 1980 to 2017. All GDP values ​​are given in euros.

year GDP
(in billion euros) 		GDP per capita
(in euros) 		GDP growth
(real) 		Inflation rate
(in percent) 		Unemployment rate
(in percent) 		Budget balance
(in% of GDP)
1980 453.2 8,435   1.8% 13.1% 6.2%   −0.4%
1981   511.7   9,470   1.1% 13.3%   7.4%   −2.4%
1982   587.9   10,821   2.5% 12.0%   8.1%   −2.8%
1983   652.8   11,945   1.2% 9.5%   7.4%   −2.5%
1984   709.6   12,927   1.5% 7.7%   8.5%   −2.7%
1985   760.5   13,788   1.6% 5.8%   8.7%   −2.9%
1986   817.8   14,759   2.4% 2.5%   8.9%   −3.2%
1987   859.8   15,442   2.6% 3.3%   9.2%   −2.0%
1988   929.4   16,607   4.7% 2.7%   8.8%   −2.5%
1989   1,001.8   17,805   4.4% 6.6%   8.7%   −1.8%
1990   1,058.6   18,711   2.9% 0.3%   8.4%   −2.4%
1991   1,097.1   19.304   1.0% 3.4%   8.6%   −2.8%
1992   1,136.8   19.906   1.6% 2.5%   9.4%   −4.6%
1993   1,148.4   20,018   −0.6% 2.2%   10.3%   −6.3%
1994   1,186.3   20,609   2.3% 1.7%   10.7%   −5.4%
1995   1,225.0   21,211   2.1% 1.8%   10.5%   −5.1%
1996   1,259.0   21,730   1.4% 2.1%   10.8%   −3.9%
1997   1,299.7   22,365   2.3% 1.3%   10.9%   −3.6%
1998   1,358.8   23,307   3.6% 0.7%   10.7%   −2.4%
1999   1,408.1   24,072   3.4% 0.6%   10.4%   −1.6%
2000   1,485.3   25,235   3.9% 1.8%   9.2%   −1.3%
2001   1,544.6   26,026   2.0% 1.8%   8.5%   −1.4%
2002   1,594.3   26,711   1.1% 1.9%   8.3%   −3.1%
2003   1,637.4   27,244   0.8% 2.2%   8.5%   −3.9%
2004   1,710.7   28,274   2.8% 2.3%   8.8%   −3.5%
2005   1,772.0   29,066   1.6% 1.9%   8.9%   −3.2%
2006   1,853.2   30.184   2.4% 1.9%   8.8%   −2.3%
2007   1,945.7   31,486   2.4% 1.6%   8.0%   −2.5%
2008   1,995.8   32,121   0.2% 3.2%   7.5%   −3.2%
2009   1,939.0   31,041   −2.9% 0.1%   9.1%   −7.2%
2010   1,998.4   31,841   2.0% 1.7%   9.3%   −6.8%
2011   2,059.3   32,651   2.1% 2.3%   9.2%   −5.1%
2012   2,086.9   32,929   0.2% 2.2%   9.8%   −4.8%
2013   2,115.3   33,208   0.6% 1.0%   10.3%   −4.0%
2014   2,147.6   33,542   0.9% 0.6%   10.3%   −3.9%
2015   2,194.2   34,125   1.1% 0.1%   10.4%   −3.6%
2016   2,228.9   34,524   1.1% 0.3%   10.0%   −3.4%
2017   2,288.1   35,309   1.8% 1.2%   9.4%   −2.6%

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c IMF - World Economic Outlook Database, October 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010
  2. ↑ Eurostat - Gross Value Added in Agriculture.Retrieved October 17, 2010
  3. ↑ Eurostat - Gross Value Added Industry. Accessed October 17, 2010
  4. ↑ Eurostat - Gross Value Added in Services Accessed on October 17, 2010
  5. ↑ France's economy is leaving recession. Accessed August 2013 .
  6. ↑ [1] Retrieved January 29, 2018
  7. ↑ [2] Retrieved January 29, 2018
  8. ↑ INSEE - Erberbstätigkeit Accessed 17 October 2010
  9. Jump up ↑ http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/frankreich-arbeitslösungen-steig-auf-rekord level / 9543964.html
  10. ↑ Eurostat - total exports. Accessed 17 October 2010
  11. ↑ a b INSEE - Handelsgüter Retrieved October 17, 2010
  12. ↑ a b INSEE - Foreign Trade Accessed on October 17, 2010
  13. ↑ Eurostat - total imports. Accessed October 17, 2010
  14. ↑ Eurostat - Foreign Trade Balance. Accessed October 17, 2010
  15. ^ A b National debt in France
  16. ↑ Eurostat - Government Revenue.Retrieved October 17, 2010
  17. ↑ Eurostat - total expenditure. Accessed October 17, 2010
  18. ↑ Eurostat - government deficit.Retrieved October 17, 2010
  19. ^ IMF - World Economic Outlook Database, October 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010
  20. ^ France - Economy. Federal Foreign Office, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  21. ↑ INSEE - companies and usable area of ​​the EU. Accessed on October 21, 2010
  22. ^ INSEE - Active in Agriculture. Accessed October 21, 2010
  23. ↑ PDF French Embassy - French agriculture in Europe. Accessed on October 21, 2010
  24. ^ France-Experte.de - Economy Retrieved on October 21, 2010
  25. ↑ Dietmar Hawranek, Isabell Hülsen : Curse of the stove premium. Der Spiegel from August 13, 2012, p. 56f.
  26. ↑ PDF French Embassy - Tourism in France. Accessed October 21, 2010
  27. ^ French Ministry of Culture - 2009 visitor numbers. Accessed October 21, 2010
  28. ↑ PDF INSEE - Economy 2008 Accessed on October 21, 2010
  29. ^ France Diplomatie: - Review of the French economy. Accessed October 21, 2010
  30. ↑ Global Wealth Report 2017 . In: Credit Suisse . ( credit-suisse.com [accessed January 1, 2018]).
  31. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/consent/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/. Accessed August 22, 2018 (English).
  32. ↑ Growth of the gross domestic product in France
  33. ↑ Europe economic growth
  34. ^ Unemployment in France
  35. ↑ Loss of top credit rating - France's free fall
  36. ^ National debt of France
  37. ↑ Economists see France in grave danger
  38. ↑ a b Allianz Global Investors: Market Insights Focus France ( Memento from 23 August 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ France new car registrations with -1.4%
  40. ↑ France is saving the auto industry from collapse with billions
  41. ^ France: Hollande is demoted
  42. ^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved September 2, 2018 (American English).