Economy of France
The French economy is measured by the absolute gross domestic product ( GDP), the fifth largest economy in the world, after the United States, the People 's Republic of China, Japan and Germany. And thus the most important industrial country in Europe besides Germany. In contrast, as for example in the USA, the French State takes an active influence on its economy, which is why the French economy is mostly referred to as guided economy. Referred to the economy from a broad base, with relatively average dependence on foreign trade and financial market. This was seen especially in the recent financial and economic crisis felt by the French economy was better than other industrialized nations.
Economic sectors
Agriculture
The French agriculture in the 19th century developed out of a strong protection to domestic borders. Since the 60s of the 20th century, it is highly influenced by the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community, now the European Union. During this time, a varied production of mixed crops, livestock over until developed to typical Mediterranean products and Tropical from overseas départements.
The importance of agriculture is already evident in the fact that about 30 million hectares are used for agriculture, which represents about 55 % of the national territory of France, and about 23 % of the total utilized agricultural area in the EU. The lion's share is accounted for by the animal feed and cereal crops, each with approximately 14.6 million and 9 million hectares.
Is the area under cultivation have been relatively stable over the past 50 years, the number of farms decreases steadily since then. From 1.6 million in 1970 to about 527,000 in 2007. So also the prototype of the mixed agricultural operation from mixed crops and livestock is increasingly given way to large-scale enterprise specialized or highly specialized small business. In synchronism with it is also the number of persons employed in agriculture declined from 2 million in 1988 to about 1.02 million in 2007, of which approximately 85 % in domestic family work.
In macroeconomic terms, the importance of agriculture with a share of only 1.7 % last GDP is rather low. But France is globally the second largest exporter, after the United States. Especially Alcoholic beverages such as wine and champagne are abroad coveted goods, but also cereals and dairy products are sold worldwide. Last but not least supported by massive subsidies from the EU, which, with about € 11 billion a year a not to be underestimated price advantage on the world market.
Industry
The French industry won only at the end of the Second World War traction. Previously it was considered outdated and only partially competitive. The boom in this area was fundamentally from the nationalization by the government as deemed important companies in the period of the Fourth Republic, which, however, were partially reversed since 1986. During this time, an attempt was made to weaken the historically evolved concentration to Paris and to strengthen other industrial regions in France.
France itself has very little resources. Nevertheless, it was possible to build up a significant industry that is economically significant with a proportion of GDP, about 19 % also. Among the strongest sectors of French industry include telecommunications, aerospace, defense, automotive, pharmaceutical and food products. Areas, the most important representatives of France Telecom, EADS, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Michelin, Alstom, Alcatel, Sanofi -Aventis, Saint- Gobain, Lafarge, Arcelor, L' Oréal and Danone are also found in the French stock market benchmark index CAC40. The automotive industry is suffering from a decline in sales in the European market; she has lost more than half of their jobs since 1980, has no models of the upper class and they hardly produced in the growth markets of India, China and Brazil.
Tourism
France is the world's most popular destination of tourists and can 9.4 % of all tourist arrivals worldwide to their credit. So visited in 2006 at least 79 million foreign visitors the country. The most common are British and German, each with 17.3 and 16.5 % of all arrivals to France.
It is not surprising that tourism has an enormous importance for the French economy. Its share in GDP about, is 6.3 % (2006) and 2 million jobs depend directly and indirectly on tourism. And with € 32 billion, France is recorded 6.3% of world tourism revenue for themselves. Only the United States and Spain earn more.
In order to strengthen this area of the economy, the French government has a comprehensive tourism policy. Key points are to strengthen the attractiveness as a tourist destination, improving service quality and promoting social tourism. Specifically set up were institutions such as Maison de la France, the National Agency for holiday checks and the public interest group ODIT France. The rural tourism is well developed, for example by clubs such as Gîtes de France.
Popular cities 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 Centre Pompidou ( 5.5 million visitors ) and the Museum d' Orsay (3 million visitors).
Financial and banking sector
France is the home of several major financial institutions. In 2008, this segment generated approximately € 80 billion, which corresponds to a share of 4.6 % of GDP.
Among the largest banks in the country include BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale and Crédit Lyonnais.
The Paris Stock Exchange has risen through the merger with NYSE to the largest securities trading center in the world in 2007. Since then she called NYSE Euro Next
The French insurance sector, with annual sales of approximately € 200 billion the fifth largest in the world. It employs about 200,000 people. The main representatives are Europe's second largest insurer, AXA, and the CNP and Allianz France.