France Economic Report

General Country Report: France

France is the third-largest country in Europe. It has a population close to 66 million people and an annual Gross Domestic Product of $2.246 trillion dollars (which places it in tenth in the world overall). Thus France is one of the most advanced countries in the world, both in terms of economic development and the average standard of living. This can be seen in the way that the French government has taken a leading role in world diplomacy over the years, playing "an influential global role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the G-8, the G-20, the EU and other multilateral organizations” (The CIA Factbook). Even to this day the French language is known as the language of “international diplomacy,” despite the rising popularity of English as the primary international language for conducting business in a global setting, whether in the sphere of private economic transactions or public affairs in the world of international law (Martin). It is also important to note, especially from the perspective of international aviation management, that with “at least 75 million foreign tourists per year, France is the most visited country in the world and maintains the third largest income in the world from tourism” (CIA Factbook).

While this factor very much bolsters the entire airline industry in France, this did not prevent the French government in the mid-1990s from giving “massive injections of state funds to enable [the company of Air France] to reduce its debts and restructure its operations” (Doganis 76).

A number of other important economic statistics deserve to be considered here in relation to the French economy. While the previously mentioned statistic about France having the tenth overall GDP might lead one to assume that all is well in the French economic situation, this is not necessarily the case. For example, France only has a current growth rate of 1.7%, which is only 158th in the world. It...