Car Rental France

Economy and population

The French population has very diverse origins. People from different origin have settled in France including the Celts, Romans, Germans, Russians, Asians, Africans, and North Americans. The populations tend to vary by region.

The population of France is 59,551,227 (2001), giving the country an overall population density of about 109 people per sq km (284 people per sq mi). About 75 per cent of the population is classified as urban.
Long time ago, France was primarily a rural community. Today about 75% of people live in cities or towns.

Art and culture are an important part of France. Many famous artists, such as Renoir and Monet, are from France. Several famous writers, including Victor Hugo who wrote Le Miserables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, are from France.

Sports are also popular, with Soccer being a major team sport. France is also well known for the "Tour de France," a 2,500-mile bicycle race.
France, once primarily agricultural, has become increasingly industrialized since World War II. However, agriculture is still a major part of the economy and France is one of the leading agricultural producers in Western Europe. France has a long history of considerable State control in its economy.

During the post-war period, the government instituted a series of wide-ranging plans designed to foster national recovery and increase governmental direction of the economy. Included in the so-called Monnet plans was the principle of nationalization of certain industries, especially rail and air transport systems, major banks, and coal mines.

The government, in addition, became a major shareholder in the motor, electronics, and aircraft industries, as well as the primary investor in the development of both oil and natural-gas reserves.

Partly as a result of such plans and programmes, the national product of France increased by nearly 50 per cent between 1949 and 1954, by 46 per cent between 1956 and 1964, and at an average annual rate of 3.8 per cent during the 1970s. In 1981 the new Socialist government began a major programme of nationalizing industries; the election of a conservative government in 1986, however, led to a reduction of the state role in the economy. In 1989 and 1993 the government privatized a number of state companies, including Air France and several banks. After a series of public-sector strikes in 1996, the government shelved its austerity measures (including cuts to the welfare budget), which were intended to cut the public debt and allow France to meet the Maastricht criteria for European monetary union. Unemployment in France remained relatively high and reached 12.4 per cent in June 1996. In 1999 France's GNP totalled an estimated US$1,453 billion (World Bank figure), or about US$24,170 per capita. The national budget included US$582 billion in revenues and US$649 billion in expenditures in 1997.