Why choose France
With many structural key strengths, France has been the leading country in Europe for welcoming foreign direct investment since 2019!
A dynamic market
France’s geographical location makes it a hub for serving European and African markets.
- The world’s 7th largest economy in 2023
- 7th in the world and 4th in Europe for good exports sales revenues in 2023
A business-friendly ecosystem
The French administrative and regulatory environment has been considerably modernized, thanks to a strategy of structural reforms.
Did you know?
France is ranked among the countries where business creation is the fastest: four days are needed to create a business, compared with eight days in Germany and 10 days in Switzerland.
(Source: Institute for Management Development (IMD) – Lausanne Institute – 2024)
Strong support for R&D
The rate of state aid for business enterprise R&D expenditure is the highest among OECD countries.
- Third country in Europe and seventh in the world for R&D spending in 2022
- Second country in Europe for patent filings in 2023
Did you know?
With 11.4 researchers per 1,000 employees in 2021, France is above the European average (10.8 researchers per 1,000 employees in Germany and 10 in the United States)
The research tax credit aims to support business R&D, without restrictions on sector or size. The credit is 30% of R&D expenditure up to €100 million and 5% above this amount. It is one of the most generous R&D tax support schemes in the OECD.
Decarbonized energy at attractive prices
France guarantees businesses largely decarbonized electricity at attractive prices, while pursuing its target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
- 62% of electricity in 2022 was produced by nuclear energy (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2024)
- 88% of electricity came from decarbonized production methods in 2022 (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2024)
- Largest nuclear power facilities in Europe
- €27 billion has been invested to decarbonize industry, as part of the “France 2030” plan
A pool of talent
The quality of French higher education is recognized worldwide.
- 18 French universities appeared in the Top 500 of the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2024 by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy
- France was the sixth-largest host country for internationally mobile students in the world in 2021
- 42% of the 25- to 64-years old age group held a higher education diploma in 2022
High productivity
Labor productivity is very high in France. It is the fourth most dynamic economy among OECD countries in terms of the growth in the efficiency of its production system.
Did you know?
Hourly productivity reached €65.60 in 2023 in purchasing power parity, compared with €53.38 in Spain, €53.50 in Italy and €42.90 in Poland.
Source: OECD
World-class infrastructure
Having a site in France is characterized by very high-quality transport and telecommunications infrastructures.
- 2nd longest railway network in Europe
- Paris-Charles de Gaulle is the European Union’s leading airport in terms of passenger numbers and the second for freight in 2022 (Eurostat)
- 6 major seaports nationwide
- More than 51% of France is covered by very high-speed internet (speed greater than 30 Mbit/s).
All figures on this page are taken from the “Attractiveness Indicators”, 2023-2024, published by Business France