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Welcome To France
Country number
201
Selected MR Agencies

An Introduction to France

The Roman province of Gaul became the Frankish Kingdom, with a similar territorial footprint to modern France, as early as the sixth century AD under King Clovis I. In the eighth century, Charlemagne made it the centre of a huge Empire in western and central Europe. See full country profile.

Latest Research News from France

Mar 27
Dutch insights-based consultancy SKIM has appointed Adrien Bourgeois as Relationship Director, based in Paris and responsible for driving the growth of client partnerships in France. Mar 27 2024
Mar 22
Insight and analytics group BVA BDRC has launched synthetic data product Pixel.AI, which it says accurately predicts responses from restricted segments by training on existing and representative data. Mar 22 2024


6 current French jobs including:

Research Manager - Social Insights, Remote Working (GMT plus / minus 3h time zone), GBP 35-42,000 (depending on qualifications, expertise and experience) - (posted Mar 7 2024)
Survey Research Manager, Remote Working - Worldwide, $ Competitive salary - (posted Feb 27 2024)
Insights Associate, Paris, France, Competitive Salary - (posted Jan 22 2024)
Head of Panels - North America - New Global Initiative, North America or Europe (office and home based), GBP Competitive + Excellent benefits - (posted Oct 11 2023)


Fast Facts
Map of France
CAPITAL: Paris
GOVERNMENT: Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
AREA: 674,843 sq km
POPULATION: 65,350,000 (July 2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: French
Lavender festival, Provence, France
Lavender festival, Provence, France


Man Apart Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the French Republic ten years after the Revolution, in 1799, becoming First Consul and then Emperor, continuing the country's wars against a coalition of European powers and winning extraordinary victories he conquered most of continental Europe and appointed members of the Bonaparte family as monarchs in newly established kingdoms. Like other conquerors before and after, he came unstuck after a catastrophic attempt to invade Russia in 1812 - a large proportion of the one million Frenchmen who died in the Napoleonic Wars in total were casualties of the fateful offensive.

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France in Profile

The Roman province of Gaul became the Frankish Kingdom, with a similar territorial footprint to modern France, as early as the sixth century AD under King Clovis I. In the eighth century, Charlemagne made it the centre of a huge Empire in western and central Europe.

In the next millennium France fought long-running territorial battles with England and its Angevin kings; then wars of religion against protestant states in the 16th to 18th centuries; conquered most of Europe from the Iberian peninsula to Moscow under its general-Emperor Napoleon; was beaten back by alliances and occupied by its eastern neighbour. It has gained and lost two Empires, but the second in particular has left a string of nations around'the world with common culture and heritage, the francophonie. It has also played a major part in the development of law and administration, political thought, philosophy and science, in Europe and around the world.Today France is the world's most visited country, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually; and one of the twin pillars of the EU and Eurozone - though some see its role as secondary to that of Germany. It enjoys a reputation for good living, traditionally producing the world's finest wines and most awarded cuisine / chefs, but also enjoys high life expectancy and excellent healthcare, recognised by the WHO as one of the world's top systems. And despite the ongoing rivalry with Britain and the joy we feel at beating them at sport, whether football, rugby, or cycling, there is a kind of grudging respect between the two. Deep down. Honest.

Some Business and General Info

GDP: $2.257 trillion (2011 est.); $35,613 per capita

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

Currency: Euro

Telephone Code: + 33

Overview of the Research Industry

MR Association(s):

Institut de Recherches et d'Etudes Publicitaires (IREP)

France is the 4th largest research market in the world, and the 3rd largest in Europe. 80 percent of MR turnover comes from domestic clients and 20 percent from international. According to the ESOMAR Global Prices Study 2012 the country was the 9th most expensive for carrying out research.
Source: ESOMAR

Overview of Trade and Industry

France is one of the world's leading economies the second largest in Europe by nominal GDP, and in 2010 had more companies in the Global Fortune 500 (39) than either Germany or the UK. Despite moves to liberalise and privatise the economy, the government is still heavily involved in French business, and has majority ownership of the railways, electricity, aircraft, nuclear power and telecoms but the country also has around 2.5 million business registered.

Although affected by the slump of 2008, France has appeared to recover relatively quickly, creeping back into growth within a year. Public debt is high, but personal debt low, and its difficult to decide whether France is relatively robust or, as some prophets of doom say, a shadowy figure behind Italy and Spain in the row of potential Euro dominoes. Either way, the socialist victory in recent elections put it back in the limelight as far as economic policy goes: if Franois Hollande sticks to his election promises, France will ditch austerity and try the path of spending its way back to growth, and Europe will hold its breath. As yet, he hasnt rocked the boat much, but its early days.

Exports in 2010 were $508.7 bn - they include machinery, aircraft, plastics and pharmaceuticals and go to countries including Germany (15.9% in 2009), Italy (8.2%), Spain, Belgium and the UK (all between 7 and 8%). Imports of $577.7 bn the same year consisted for the most part of similar commodities, plus crude oil. Key suppliers are Germany (19.4% in 2009), Belgium (11.6%) and Italy, The Netherlands and Spain (6 to 8%).

My view
from...
France
Researchers Talk!
Have your say!
If you are a researcher based in France, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!

Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com

Views from...

Views from French researchers will appear here soon - please send us yours!