This page is one of the annex pages of www.understandfrance.org, the foremost site on Franco-American intercultural differences. It contains documents, facts and figures illustrating the content of some of its pages.

Facts & figures

This page contains Facts and Figures about France and the French. Some are significant, other less so.... Management Taxes and benefits Strikes Economy Environment

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Management

Educational background of the 349 members of the executives boards of the 40 largest French companies (listed in the CAC40 Index) in 2007 (Source : Le Figaro March 25, 2008) :

Ecole Polytechnique (X)	17,2%	"Grandes Ecoles d'Ingénieurs" outside Paris	15,7%
Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA)	12,9%	Business schools outside Paris	4%
Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC)	9,2%	University	13,7%
Other Parisian "Grandes Ecoles"	20,5%	Other	6,8%

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Taxes and benefits
Taxes are very high in France (top marginal tax rates 1999, source:OECD) : click here for more facts on taxes in France  Country  Income Tax  Corporate Tax  Total % Tax/GNP(1996)  Netherlands  60  35  44,0  Belgium  55  39  46,5  FRANCE  54  36,6  45,3  Germany  53  40  39,2  Austria  50  34    Luxembourg  46  30  44,0  Ireland  46  28  33,8  Italy  45,5  37  41,3  Britain  40  31  35,3  Portugal  40  34  33,8  Spain  39,6  35  34,0  Finland  38  28    Sweden  57,7  28    Denmark  24,2  32  51,3  U.S.A.  39,6  35  27,9  Japan  37  34,5  28,5		Minimum public allowance in case of unemployment : (source : UNEDIC)    for ...(days)  % of "salaire de référence" (now 1220 Euros) Average length of unemployment in months (OECD 2004)  France  122 to 1825 40% to 50%  16,7  Germany  182 to 974  6% to 67%    Austria  140 to 365  56% +    Belgium  unlimited  60%    Denmark  1365  90%    Spain  120 to 720  70%  19,9  Finland  500  60% (approx)  11,7  Greece  125 to 300  40 to 50%    Ireland  156 to 390  366 Euros +    Italy  180  30%    Luxembourg  365 to 730  85%    Netherlands  130 to 1295  70%    Portugal  305 to 900  65%    UK  182  183 to 328 Euros    Sweden  300 to 450  80%   AVERAGE EUROPE  297 to 726  717 Euros  12,2 (OECD)  USA      4,8  Canada      4,4
Economy
Strikes : number of days per 1000 workers 1998-2004 (source : Observatoire Européen des Relations Industrielles 2005)  Denmark  218  Finland  44  Belgium  20  Spain  166  Greece  43  Portugal  20  Italy  93  Europe  43  Luxembourg  19  Norway  80  France  37  Netherlands  10  Austria  59  Sweden  27  Poland  5,4  Ireland  53  UK  26  Germany  2,9		Number of patents by country, as a % of the total number of patents (2002, source : OECD)  USA  35,6%  United-Kingdom  4%  Japan  25,6%  Italy  1,6%  Germany  14,1%  Canada  1,3%  France  4,8%  Spain  0,2% Global market share for luxury goods (Source : AT.Kearney, Nov.2006) in % of turnover of the 270 main luxury companies  France  Italy  USA  Switzerl.  Others  34%  20%  14%  6%  26% Back to page Society
Environment
Discharge of CO2 in the atmosphere, in tons per inhabitant (source UN Statistics Division, 2002)  Country  Rank  Tons/inhab.  Qatar  1  53,1  Trinitad-Tobago  2  31,9  Bahrein  3  30,6  UAE  4  25,1  Kuweit  5  24,6  Luxembourg  6  21,1  USA  7  20,1  Australia  8  18,3  Brunei  9  17,7  Canada  10  16,5  .......      Germany  24  9,8  .......      France  50  6,2		another source (OECD, 1997) gives the following global numbers  million tons  NOX  CO2  USA  21,4  5,3  France  1,6  0,4  Germany  1,8  0,9  UK  1,2  0,6  Japan  n/a  1,2 Back to page Environment

To table of contents To top of the page  Back to home page	Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books: "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)
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