Based on our latest records (as of April 2022), more than 10.5M companies are registered in France. More than half of all companies operate in the services sector (36.26%) and finance, insurance, and real estate (28.4%). Paris is at the top of the list among cities with 7.5% of all companies registered there, followed by Marseille (1.5%), and Lyon (1%).
The ratio of proprietorships and corporations is balanced
Out of all companies registered in France, 43.1% are registered as proprietorships and 42.4% as corporations.
France: Distribution of companies by legal form
Legal form | Share |
---|---|
Proprietorship | 43.12% |
Corporation | 42.44% |
Non Profit Organization | 9.72% |
Cooperative | 2.04% |
Partnership Of Unknown Type | 1.38% |
Local Government Body | 0.85% |
Unknown Type | 0.3% |
Government Body | 0.07% |
Joint Venture | 0.06% |
Almost half of corporations operate in finance, insurance, and real estate (49.3%), and 18.6% operate in services. Services are the most represented industry among proprietorships (41.4%).
France: Distribution of corporations and proprietorships by industry
Industries | ||
---|---|---|
Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate | 2,220,686 | 517,074 |
Services | 838,873 | 1,892,947 |
Retail Trade | 496,937 | 659,062 |
Construction | 308,866 | 363,887 |
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing | 202,962 | 538,761 |
Wholesale Trade | 143,862 | 108,788 |
Manufacturing | 127,991 | 165,502 |
Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services | 123,825 | 313,398 |
Unknown industry | 30,449 | 6,963 |
Mining | 1,354 | 707 |
Public Sector | 165 | 52 |
The most common SIC Code among corporations is real property lessor followed by holding companies. In the case of proprietorships, real property lessor is at the top of the list followed by health practitioners' offices.
France: Distribution of corporations and proprietorships by SIC Code
Corporations | |
---|---|
Real property lessor | 1,806,592 |
Holding company | 175,208 |
Eating place | 150,745 |
Management consulting services | 126,575 |
Business services | 124,235 |
Real estate agent/manager | 85,651 |
Ret new/used automobiles | 69,246 |
Legal services office | 68,830 |
Trade contractor | 67,475 |
Custom computer programming | 64,769 |
Proprietorships | |
---|---|
Real property lessor | 419,143 |
Health practitioner's office | 317,269 |
U.S. Postal Service | 206,504 |
Direct retail sales | 191,124 |
Commercial art/graphic design | 150,434 |
Business services | 143,666 |
School/educational services | 132,177 |
Management consulting services | 125,947 |
Misc personal services | 111,102 |
Medical doctor's office | 110,755 |
36.3% of companies registered in France operate in services. Second is the finance, insurance, and real estate sector (28.4%), followed by retail (11.1%). According to our latest records (as of April 2022), services generate more than EUR 975B in sales per year - that represents 19.2% of all sales generated by French businesses. Manufacturing companies, while accounting for only 2.8% of all companies registered in France, generate more than 17% of all sales.
France: Distribution of companies by industry
Industry | Number of Companies |
---|---|
Services | 3,840,927 |
Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate | 3,011,466 |
Retail Trade | 1,179,841 |
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing | 780,574 |
Construction | 686,852 |
Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services | 448,228 |
Manufacturing | 300,713 |
Wholesale Trade | 255,747 |
Public Sector | 48,405 |
Mining | 2,134 |
France: Distribution of sales by industry
Industry | Sales |
---|---|
Services | € 975.3B |
Wholesale Trade | € 863.6B |
Manufacturing | € 862.0B |
Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate | € 690.0B |
Retail Trade | € 656.9B |
Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services | € 451.4B |
Construction | € 263.4B |
Public Sector | € 199.0B |
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing | € 98.37B |
Mining | € 12.40B |
More than a fifth of all companies in France operate under the real property lessors SIC Code (21.9%). This unusually large share can be explained by the fact that by French law, anyone who rents out furnished property has to register and formally operate as a business. In France, more than 35% of the property is rented. Out of the 2.3M entities under this SIC Code, 1.98M entities generate less than EUR 100,000 a year.
The second most represented SIC Code is a membership organisation with a share of 4.8%. Entertainment and recreation services are third with a share of 3.8%. 47.7% of all companies in France operate under the top ten SIC Codes.
France: Distribution of companies by SIC Code
SIC Code | Number of Companies |
---|---|
Real property lessor | 2,317,931 |
Membership organization | 507,672 |
Amusement/recreation services | 403,197 |
Health practitioner's office | 330,539 |
Real estate agent/manager | 313,036 |
Business services | 283,742 |
Management consulting services | 256,033 |
Eating place | 238,381 |
U.S. Postal Service | 207,581 |
Direct retail sales | 195,829 |
School/educational services | 187,607 |
Holding company | 179,615 |
Commercial art/graphic design | 159,936 |
Trade contractor | 151,581 |
Beauty shop | 149,500 |
Cash grains farm | 149,254 |
Legal services office | 146,496 |
Ret misc merchandise | 139,872 |
Ret new/used automobiles | 134,458 |
Misc personal services | 130,089 |
Paris has the highest number of registered companies
789,000 companies are registered in the Paris department, representing 7.45% of all companies in France. Bouches-du-Rhône is second with a share of 3.63%. Rhône is third with a share of 3.03%. Hauts-De-Seine is a clear leader in terms of sales. According to our latest records (as of April 2022), companies registered there generate more than EUR 721B per year (14.21% share). Paris-based companies are second with sales of more than EUR 690B (13.61%), but employ almost twice as many people (2.7M) compared to Hauts-De-Seine (1.5M).
France: Sales and number of employees in individual departments
Department | Sales | Number of Employees |
---|---|---|
PARIS | € 690,232,775,944 | 2,798,375 |
BOUCHES DU RHONE | € 139,618,839,056 | 870,659 |
RHONE | € 173,545,530,155 | 925,030 |
NORD | € 186,543,568,451 | 851,329 |
GIRONDE | € 94,673,249,348 | 647,241 |
HAUTS DE SEINE | € 721,006,440,969 | 1,520,187 |
ALPES MARITIMES | € 59,832,021,296 | 504,684 |
HERAULT | € 61,744,041,705 | 471,601 |
SEINE SAINT DENIS | € 164,181,006,180 | 713,622 |
VAR | € 45,744,700,662 | 400,055 |
HAUTE GARONNE | € 126,197,354,170 | 550,559 |
VAL DE MARNE | € 139,429,689,854 | 506,681 |
LOIRE ATLANTIQUE | € 88,075,609,917 | 507,177 |
YVELINES | € 204,924,632,280 | 547,024 |
ISERE | € 68,670,503,616 | 441,973 |
Top 15 | € 2,964,419,963,603 | 4,418,509 |
Total | € 5,072,532,078,293 | 10,592,852 |
The city of Paris is home to 788,000 companies (7.4%). The second city with the most registered entities is Marseille with more than 163,000 companies (1.5%) followed by Lyon with 110,000 companies (1%).
France: TOP 10 cities with the highest number of companies registered
City | Number of Companies |
---|---|
PARIS | 788,766 |
MARSEILLE | 163,254 |
LYON | 110,822 |
TOULOUSE | 91,990 |
NICE | 89,943 |
BORDEAUX | 70,694 |
MONTPELLIER | 64,827 |
NANTES | 56,661 |
STRASBOURG | 51,273 |
LILLE | 48,497 |
Other | 8,894,562 |
Manufacturing companies are some of the largest companies in France. According to our latest records (as of April 2022), PSA AUTOMOBILES SA is the dominant carmaker with annual sales of EUR 50.1B (the company merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on 16/01/2021 to form Stellantis). The French electricity producer and distributor ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE is second with sales of more than EUR 44B. The aircraft manufacturer AIRBUS is third with annual sales of more than EUR 39B.
France: TOP 15 companies in terms of sales
Company | Sales | Share |
---|---|---|
PSA AUTOMOBILES SA | € 50,192,306,000 | 0.99% |
ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE | € 44,315,000,000 | 0.87% |
AIRBUS | € 39,036,834,000 | 0.77% |
RENAULT SAS | € 37,715,000,000 | 0.74% |
ORANGE | € 22,604,931,633 | 0.45% |
CSF | € 22,019,809,170 | 0.43% |
CONTANGO TRADING SA | € 20,114,270,580 | 0.4% |
ENGIE | € 19,272,000,000 | 0.38% |
RENAULT | € 18,026,160,663 | 0.36% |
CMA CGM | € 17,972,700,000 | 0.35% |
SOCIETE CIVILE DES MOUSQUETAIRES | € 17,761,141,455 | 0.35% |
TOTALENERGIES MARKETING FRANCE | € 16,942,209,000 | 0.33% |
ITM ALIMENTAIRE INTERNATIONAL | € 16,676,966,419 | 0.33% |
LA FRANCAISE DES JEUX | € 15,940,400,000 | 0.31% |
ENEDIS | € 14,494,000,000 | 0.29% |
Top 15 largest companies | € 373,083,728,920 | 7.35% |
Total | € 5,072,532,078,293 | 100% |
The consulting company CAPGEMINI is the largest employer in France with more than 212,000 employees. RENAULT, a major car manufacturer, is second with more than 117,000 employees. SOCIETE CIVILE DES MOUSQUETAIRES is third with more than 112,000 employees.
France: TOP 15 employers
Company | Number of Employees | Share |
---|---|---|
CAPGEMINI | 212,000 | 0.81% |
RENAULT | 117,405 | 0.45% |
SOCIETE CIVILE DES MOUSQUETAIRES | 112,002 | 0.43% |
ADECCO FRANCE | 95,288 | 0.37% |
SNCF VOYAGEURS | 66,766 | 0.26% |
ORANGE | 64,411 | 0.25% |
ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE | 62,462 | 0.24% |
CENTRE COMMUNAL D'ACTION SOCIALE | 37,496 | 0.14% |
ONET SERVICES | 35,801 | 0.14% |
SYNERGIE | 32,682 | 0.13% |
SCE DEPARTEMENTAL INCENDIE ET SECOURS | 28,270 | 0.11% |
CRIT | 24,448 | 0.09% |
B.A.G. | 22,310 | 0.09% |
RENT YOUR CAR | 21,456 | 0.08% |
CAPGEMINI TECHNOLOGY SERVICES | 20,038 | 0.08% |
Top 15 largest companies | 952,835 | 3.65% |
All employees | 26,100,201 | 100% |