Roiled by protests, France has drawn long looks from abroad at the state of its republic — both its divisive internal politics and economic decision-making.
Mostly peaceful, if obstructive, school blockades by students this month morphed Saturday into wider upheaval and pockets of violence by youths over issues such as the rising cost of living — which isn’t exclusive to France.
Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro at ING bank, said “France is not Greece” — an allusion to the 2009 financial crisis that jolted the European Union. But France’s inability to meet its spending and growth targets, as well as cost-cutting targets, is at the core of its economic woes.
Here’s a breakdown of France’s key economic indicators and tax burdens as compared with other European Union countries, as well as policy decisions that may have contributed to stagnation and unrest.
France’s public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product has ballooned over the nearly decade-long tenure of President Emmanuel Macron, emerging as a defining issue ahead of the race to succeed him next spring.
The public debt is “enormous,” says Gilbert Cette, an economics professor at Neoma Business School in Paris. “France’s entire economic policy is constrained by such a sizable debt level.”
The wiggle room for policymakers is limited: They must either cut government spending or raise taxes, which are already among the highest in Europe.
Either cut government spending or raise taxes — already among the highest in Europe. France has shown “talent” in both raising spending and lowering taxes in recent years, said Cette.
The picture is worsening: Three weeks ago, the government said its budget would again overshoot EU spending limits and that the national debt is expected to grow to nearly 122% of GDP, a new record.
At the end of June, France’s public debt stood at nearly 3.6 trillion euros (nearly $4.08 trillion), equivalent to 119% of GDP, according to figures from France’s national statistics agency.
“Greece’s credibility was destroyed by false statistics; France’s is being eroded by false promises and the inability or unwillingness to start fiscal and structural reforms,” ING’s Brzeski wrote last week.
That’s the share of France’s economic output accounted for by government spending in terms of France’s overall economic output, according to 2025 figures from Eurostat, the EU statistics agency. The average in the EU was just under 50%.
The figure shows the depth of the challenge that Paris faces: Because it’s already devoting so much of the economy’s output to public spending — including subsidies for businesses and costly outlays for health care and pensions — it has less room for maneuver.
Eurostat says that as of 2024, France — at 45.2% — was a close second behind Denmark in terms of total tax revenue and social contributions as a percentage of GDP. The EU average was just over 40%.
That was the yield on France’s 10-year bond as of Tuesday. Higher borrowing costs mean the French government has less money to spend on pensions, education, health, defense and social programs.
An instructive comparison may be with the European Union’s biggest economy, Germany. Berlin is currently paying about 3.4% on its equivalent — the ultra-safe Bund — and the spread between the yields on the French and German 10-year bonds has widened.
The International Monetary Fund’s forecast for economic growth, an anemic figure compared with other developed countries.
Overall, the IMF predicts growth of 3.1% in total global economic output, and 2.1% in advanced economies, this year. France’s expected growth rate is the lowest among developed countries — roughly one-third of Germany’s and half of Italy’s.
Japan’s economy, with the second-lowest growth forecast, is expected to expand by 0.7%
