Economy of France

This article is about the current economic situation of France. For historical information, see Economic history of France.

Economy of France
La Défense, the financial hub of France
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
Calendar year
Trade organisations
EU, WTO, G-20, G7 and OECD
Country group
Statistics
Population68,043,000 (February 2023)[5]
GDP
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • 0.9% (2023)
  • 0.7% (2024)[6]
GDP per capita
  • $47,359 (nominal; 2024)[6]
  • $60,339 (PPP; 2024)[6]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
  • 5.7% (2023)
  • 2.4% (2024)
  • 1.8% (2025)[6]
Population below poverty line
  • 5.5% or 13.2% with DOM-TOM
  • 20.4% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE, 2023)[8]
29.7 low (2023)[9]
Increase 71 out of 100 points (2023)[11] (21st)
Labour force
  • 30,394,934 (2020, ILO)[12]
  • Increase 74.4% employment rate (2023)[13]
Labour force by occupation
Unemployment
  • 7.0% (Q2, 2023)[14]
  • 17.2% youth unemployment (15 to 24-year-olds, Q4 2021)[14]
Average gross salary
€3,462 /monthly (2022)[15]
€2,468 /monthly (2022)[16][17]
Main industries
External
Exports$746.9 billion (5th; 2020 est.)[18]
Export goods
machinery and equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages
Main export partners
Imports$803.6 billion (4th; 2020 est.)[19]
Import goods
machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, aircraft, plastics, chemicals
Main import partners
FDI stock
  • $858.3 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[7]
  • Abroad: $1.429 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)[7]
10.604 billion (2021)[6]
$5.250 trillion (31 March 2017)[20]
Public finances
  • 112.6% of GDP (2021)[6]
  • €2.813 trillion (2021)[6]
  • €163.3 billion deficit (2021)[21]
  • −6.5% of GDP (2021)[21]
Revenues52.5% of GDP (2021)[21]
Expenses59% of GDP (2021)[21]
Economic aid
  • AA
  • Outlook: Stable
  • Aa2
  • Outlook: Stable
  • AA
  • Outlook: Stable
  • AA-
  • Outlook: Stable
209 billion euro (February 2023)[28]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of France is a highly developed social market economy with notable state participation in strategic sectors.[29] It is the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and the ninth-largest economy by PPP,[30] constituting around 4% of world GDP.[31] Due to a volatile currency exchange rate, France's GDP as measured in dollars fluctuates sharply, being smaller in 2024 than in 2008. France has a diversified economy,[32] that is dominated by the service sector (which in 2017 represented 78.8% of its GDP), whilst the industrial sector accounted for 19.5% of its GDP and the primary sector accounted for the remaining 1.7%.[33] In 2020, France was the largest Foreign Direct Investment recipient in Europe,[34] and Europe's second largest spender in research and development.[35] It was ranked among the 10 most innovative countries in the world by the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index,[36] as well as the 15th most competitive nation globally according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report (up 2 notches compared to 2018).[37] It was the fifth-largest trading nation in the world (and second in Europe after Germany). France is also the most visited destination in the world,[38][39] as well as the European Union's leading agricultural power.[40]

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in 2023, France was the world's 23rd country by GDP per capita with $44,408 per inhabitant. In 2021, France was listed on the United Nations's Human Development Index with a value of 0.903 (indicating very high human development) and 22nd on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2021.[41][42] Among OECD members, France has a highly efficient and strong social security system, which comprises roughly 31.7% of GDP.[4][43][3]

Paris is a leading global city, and has one of the largest city GDP in the world.[44] It ranks as the first city in Europe (and 3rd worldwide) by the number of companies classified in Fortune's Fortune Global 500.[45] Paris produced US$738 billion (or US$882 billion at market exchange rates) or around 1/3 of the French economy in 2018[46] while the economy of the Paris metropolitan area—the largest in Europe with London—generates around 1/3 of France's GDP or around $1.0 trillion.[47] Paris has been ranked as the 2nd most attractive global city in the world in 2019 by KPMG.[48] La Défense, Paris's Central Business District, was ranked by Ernst & Young in 2017 as the leading business district in continental Europe, and fourth in the world.[49] The OECD is headquartered in Paris, the nation's financial capital. The other major economic centres of the country include Lyon, Toulouse (centre of the European aerospace industry), Marseille and Lille.

France's economy entered the recession of the late 2000s later and appeared to leave it earlier than most affected economies, only enduring four-quarters of contraction.[50] However, France experienced stagnant growth between 2012 and 2014, with the economy expanding by 0% in 2012, 0.8% in 2013 and 0.2% in 2014. Growth picked up in 2015 with a growth of 0.8%. This was followed by a growth of 1.1% for 2016, a growth of 2.2% for 2017, and a growth of 2.1% for 2018.[51]

According to INSEE (2021), non-financial and non-agricultural medium-sized firms employed 3 million full-time equivalent employees (24.3% of the workforce), accounted for 27% of investment, 30% of turnover, and 26% of value added, despite accounting for only 1.6% of total firms in France.[52][53]

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