Industry Analysis

COMPETING GLOBALLY

National name: République Française

Current government officials

Languages: French (official) 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)

Ethnicity/race: Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Southeast Asian, and Basque minorities

Religions: Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%

National Holiday: Fete de la Federation, July 14

Literacy rate: 99% (2011 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2012 est.): $2.253 trillion; per capita $35,500. Real growth rate: –1%. Inflation: 1.3%. Unemployment: 10.3%. Arable land: 33.45%. Agriculture: wheat, cereals, sugar beets, potatoes, wine grapes; beef, dairy products; fish. Labor force: 29.62 million; services 71.8%, industry 24.3%, agriculture 3.8% (2011). Industries: machinery, chemicals, automobiles, metallurgy, aircraft, electronics; textiles, food processing; tourism. Natural resources: coal, iron ore, bauxite, zinc, uranium, antimony, arsenic, potash, feldspar, fluorospar, gypsum, timber, fish. Exports: $567.5 billion (2012 est.): machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages. Imports: $658.9 billion (2012 est.): machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, aircraft, plastics, chemicals. Major trading partners: Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, Belgium, U.S., Netherlands (2012).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 39.883 million (2011); mobile cellular: 59.84 million (2011). Radio broadcast stations: AM 41, FM about 3,500 (this figure is an approximation and includes many repeaters), shortwave 2. Television broadcast stations: 584 (plus 9,676 repeaters). Internet hosts: 17.26 million (2012). Internet users: 45.26 million (2011).

Transportation: Railways: total: 29,640 km (2011). Highways: total: 951,200 km; paved: paved: 951,220 km (including 10,490 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km...