A Fifth Republic, euro-area core economy, nuclear-heavy power system, high-spending fiscal state, and global power whose metropolitan and overseas geography make it European, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific at the same time.
France
France is a Fifth Republic of about 69.1 million residents across metropolitan France and five overseas departments. It is one of the euro area's largest economies, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a nuclear-weapons state, a NATO ally, and a founder of the European Union. Paris concentrates political, financial, cultural, and administrative power, but the country runs through 13 metropolitan régions, the overseas territories, industrial champions in aerospace and luxury, a nuclear-heavy power system, dense public services, and a political culture that expects the state to answer when prices, pensions, jobs, or identity come under pressure.
Fifth Republic presidency. The Constitution of 4 October 1958 gives the President of the Republic a direct national mandate, broad agenda-setting tools, and the power to appoint the Prime Minister. Parliament, the Conseil constitutionnel, the administrative courts (Conseil d'État), and local authorities shape the limits of executive action S7.
Euro-area core membership. Monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank's Governing Council. France retains the Banque de France as a national central bank, and French sovereign debt is benchmarked against the German Bund. France cannot move its exchange rate or its policy rate independently, which moves the macro tradeoff toward fiscal, labor, and productivity policy S4,S8.
High-spending fiscal state. France runs one of the highest ratios of public expenditure to GDP in the OECD, with social protection, health, education, defense, and pensions absorbing the largest shares. In 2025 the general government deficit was 5.1 percent of GDP and Maastricht debt reached 115.6 percent of GDP S6,S11.
Nuclear-heavy energy and industrial strategy. Civilian nuclear power supplies the majority of French electricity. Aerospace (Airbus and Safran), defense (Dassault, Thales, Naval Group), transport equipment, luxury goods (LVMH and Kering), agriculture, tourism, and professional services sit behind the headline services share S8,S11.
Metropolitan and overseas geography. Metropolitan France (l'Hexagone) is bordered by eight European neighbors. Five overseas departments — Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion, Mayotte — and a network of overseas collectivities extend French territory into the Caribbean, South America, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific. The result is the world's second-largest exclusive economic zone after the United States S10,S12.
Continue with the data
The indicator chapter is the live snapshot. Start with output and prices, then read labor and the public-finance position, then the external accounts and the energy mix.
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