France

4
Health systems in transition
France
France is ethnically heterogeneous, counting more than a hundred different
ethnic groups within its territory. The government does not gather data
on ethnicity, although ad hoc surveys may be used to estimate the level of
discrimination in access to schools, housing or the labour market. A 2008
survey found that approximately 15% of the French population (10 million)
had an origin other than French (INED, 2010).
While the government does not maintain statistics on religious adherence,
a 2008 demographic survey showed France to be multidenominational: 43%
Roman Catholic, 8% Muslim, 2% Protestant, 0.5% Orthodox, 0.5% Jewish,
0.5% Buddhist and 0.5% other (INED, 2010). Nearly 45% of the population
aged 18–50 years declared themselves agnostic or atheist.
Among the EU Member States as of 2013, France has the second highest
fertility rate (2.02 births per woman in 2010 and 1.97 in 2013) (see Table 1.1).
The French population is ageing because of increasing life expectancy but not
because of declining fertility rates as in other European countries. The baby
boom after the Second World War will exacerbate this trend in the medium
term, and people aged over 75 years are expected to constitute 15.6% of the
population by 2050, compared with 9.2% in 2011 (Vasselle, 2011).
Just over 70% of the French population has attained upper secondary
education (INSEE, 2013a). In 2011, nearly 60% of the population in the five-year
age group following secondary school was enrolled in higher education
(Table 1.1).
1.2 Economic context
France is the fifth largest economy in the world and the second largest in
Europe. Thanks to its overseas departments and territories, France has the
second largest exclusive economic zone in the world in terms of area, second
only to that of the United States.
In 2014, the GDP of France exceeded €2 trillion (Table 1.2). The per capita
GDP was €27 643 in 2012, ranking 11th among EU27 countries. The budget
deficit was 4.8% of GDP in 2012 compared with 5.3% in 2011 and 7.1% in 2010.