France – Country Performance, Brand Strength and Reputation

France: How does La Grande Nation, at the centre of the European Union, perform in global rankings measuring talent attraction potential, country brand strength, soft power, economic performance, reputation, and sustainability?

Let’s take a closer look at:

• France’s soft power and brand strength
• Its appeal to skilled labour, investors, and visitors
• The country’s global contribution to peace and wellbeing
• How well it fares in terms of happiness and sustainability

Soft Power and Brand Strength

In the Global Soft Power Index 2023 by Brand Finance, France secures the 6^th spot, slightly trailing Japan (4^th) and China (5^th). Impressively, its score has shown growth, rising from 60.6 in 2022 to 62.4 out of 100. Despite this improvement, the nation remains in 6^th overall position this year as the top five nations have all experienced a score increase.

France is highly regarded for its familiarity, international relations, and rich culture and heritage, earning the 2^nd position in Arts & Entertainment, Food, and Tourism. However, the 2023 Global Soft Power Index notes a slight dip in its Business & Trade score, suggesting a need for improvement in this sector.

While the nation’s reputation remains stable, its influence is on the decline, posing challenges in mobilising other nations to address essential aspects of developing a sustainable world. Despite France’s advocacy for climate issues, there’s a pressing need to enhance perceptions in Business & Trade to safeguard its Soft Power advantage in the future.

In the U.S. News Best Countries 2023 ranking, France secures the 12^th position, behind the Netherlands (10^th) and Norway (11^th). Notably, it excels in three key areas: cultural influence (2^nd), heritage (4^th), and power (7^th). However, the country dropped three positions from 2022, with lowest scores in movers and open for business factors.

The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brand Index (NBI) calculates its ranking based on averaging the scores of six different factors: exports, governance, tourism, culture, people and immigration, and tourism. According to the NBI 2023 ranking France secures the 8^th position, a drop of three positions since 2022.

How Attractive for Talent?

France, classified as a high-income country within the European regional group, currently holds the 19^th position in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2023. Notably, it performs most remarkably in the Grow pillar where it holds the 7^th position and its main challenge is the Attract and Vocational and Technical Skills pillars where it ranked 25^th in both.

In terms of education excellence, France boasts four universities within the top 100 worldwide, according to the World University Rankings 2024. These esteemed institutions are: Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris, Université Paris-Saclay, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, and Sorbonne University.

The Expat Insider 2023 ranks France in 33^rd position out of 53 countries, below Qatar (31^st) and Cyprus (32^nd). However, France ranks 6^th in the Healthcare metric and 14^th in the Quality of Life metric.

Appeal to Investors, Business, and Travel

As per the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2023, France secures the 10^th position for FDI inflows in 2022, trailing behind India (8^th) and Sweden (9^th). This marks an increase of two positions compared to its 2021 ranking. This success can be attributed to large M&A deals and increased investment in greenfield projects. In terms of FDI outflows, France ranks 12^th in 2022, a slight increase from its 13^th position in 2021, while the levels of FDI remain more or less consistent with the previous year, MNEs’ investment has increased.

The Bloom Consulting biannual Country Brand Ranking Trade Edition 2022-2023 assesses investment-related variables, emphasising perceptions of a country’s trade-specific brand and evaluating branding performance. Regionally, France continues to place 2^nd behind the United Kingdom (1^st) and above Germany (3^rd) and Russia (4^th). Globally, it secures the 4^th position, a jump of two positions since the previous report.

In addition, the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking Tourism Edition 2022-2023 places France at the 9^th global position, scoring the same as the previous year and trailing behind Australia (6^th) and Hong Kong (8^th). Regionally, it now holds the 5^th position, experiencing a drop of one position, falling behind Germany (3^rd) and the United Kingdom (4^th).

In the IMD 2023 World Competitiveness Ranking, France secured the 33^rd position, showing a slight shift from its 28^th ranking in 2022 and 29^th in 2021. Currently, it sits just behind New Zealand (31^st) and Lithuania (32^nd) while surpassing Indonesia (34^th) and Japan (35^th).

In terms of specific characteristics, France’s economic performance dropped six positions to the 24^th spot in 2023. It holds the 47^th position for government efficiency, experiencing a drop of seven positions compared to 2022. Lastly, it drops four positions to the 33^rd position for business efficiency, and holds the 17^th spot for infrastructure, dropping two positions since 2022.

According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2023, France belongs to the second group, Strong Innovators, whereas Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden are Innovation Leaders in the region. France’s performance has decreased by -1.6% points during the period between 2016 and 2023.

Its strengths are Foreign doctorate students, Government support for business R&D, Resource productivity, Population with tertiary education, and Innovative SMEs collaborating with others. While weaknesses are Sales of innovative products, Non-R&D Innovation expenditures, Enterprises providing ICT training, Design applications, and Trademark applications.

How “Good” is France?

In the Caf World Giving Index 2023, France secured the 88^th position, showcasing a jump of 12 positions from the previous year. Notably, France performs most admirably in the subfactor of helping a stranger, where 40% of its adult population helped a stranger in the past year.

In the Good Country Index, France currently holds the 9^th position overall, with notable subfactors as follows: Science & Technology (32^nd), Culture (20^th), International Peace & Security (31^st), World Order (23^rd), Planet & Climate (23^rd), Prosperity & Equality (8^th), and Health & Wellbeing (23^rd). It’s worth mentioning that in 2022, France was ranked 7^th, and in 2021, it held the 9^th position. While the country has experienced a two-point drop since the 2022 ranking, there has been a significant increase in the International Peace & Security factor.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index 2023, France ranked in the blue zone (8-9 range) with a 8.07 out of 10. This is higher than the United States, which scored 7.85, and Portugal, which scored 7.89, but lower than the United Kingdom and Germany, which scored 8.28 and 8.8.

The 2022 Corruption Perception Index ranks France 21^st with a score of 72/100, below Belgium, Japan, and the United Kingdom, which all tied for the 18^th position with a score of 73. France’s score has increased by one since 2021.

Sustainability

The 2022 edition of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks France 12^th, sitting between the Netherlands (11^th) and Germany (13^th). The EPI analyses the performance of 180 countries, scoring and ranking these countries on their environmental performance using the most recent year of data available as well as providing calculable changes in scores over the previous decade. France has experienced a change in score of positive 6.4.

The Sustainable Development Report 2023 ranks France in 6^th position. It highlights that France, although in the top ten, still has some significant and major challenges to overcome. However, the no poverty factor has achieved the status of SDG achievement with a continuous moderate increase, and France is also on track for gender equality and partnerships for the goals factors.

Peace and Happiness

The Global Peace Index 2023 ranks France 67^th, remaining consistent with last year’s index. France sits behind Cyprus (64^th), Serbia (65^th), and Armenia (66^th). France falls under the medium sector of the ‘State of Peace’ spectrum as defined by the Institute for Economics & Peace. France positioned third last (34^th) regionally amongst its fellow European countries, led by Iceland and Denmark.

The Institute for Economics & Peace similarly ranks France within the high impact (dark orange) zone in terms of ‘Impact of Terrorism’ in the 2022 Global Terrorism Index. France ranks 34^th, sitting in between Palestine (33^rd) and Germany (35^th).

Meanwhile, the World Happiness Report 2023, which displays the Ranking of Happiness based on a three-year-average 2020–2022, ranks France 21^st.

Last updated in October 2023. More country profiles here.

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Disclaimer: The information in this article is intended to provide a general overview of France’s economic and cultural landscape and facilitate comparison over time. While we strive for accuracy and completeness, we are not responsible for any typographical errors or inaccuracies. The data is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. Users should verify any information before relying on it for decision-making purposes.