The economy of Paris is based largely on services and commerce: of the 390,480 of its enterprises, 80.6 percent are engaged in commerce, transportation, and diverse services, 6.5 percent in construction, and just 3.8 percent in industry. Paris, including both the City of Paris and the Île-de-France region (Paris Region), is the most important center of economic activity in France, accounting for about thirty percent of the French GDP.
Paris had the fifth largest metropolitan economy in the world in 2011 according to the Brookings Institution and second in Europe. The Paris Region is Europe's second richest region with a GDP (PPP) at over $1 trillion equivalent to that of the Netherlands or Indonesia and higher than countries like Switzerland, Sweden or Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates combined, ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany but slightly behind Greater London in the United Kingdom. It has the highest per capita GDP of any French region and the third highest of any region in the European Union.
The story is similar in the Paris Region, or Île-de-France, as a whole. 76.7 percent of enterprises are engaged in commerce and services, and 3.4 percent in industry. 59.5 percent of employees in the region are engaged in commerce, transport and diverse services, 26.9 percent in public administration, health and social services, 8.2 percent industry, and 5.2 percent in construction.
The top ten French companies listed in the Fortune Global 500 for 2015 all had their headquarters in the Paris Region, nine within the City of Paris and one, TotalEnergies, in the Hauts-de-Seine Department, in the business district of La Defense. The fourth-largest company, Société Générale, has its registered headquarters in Paris and its operational offices in La Defense. Other notable clusters of major companies are located at Issy-les-Moulineaux (media companies); Boulogne-Billancourt, and Saint-Denis.
GDP Paris metropolitan area produced US$1.03 trillion at market exchange rates or around 1/3 of the economy of France in 2024 The GDP per capita of the region was €65,200 (US$), the highest in France. The GDP of the Paris Region accounted for 31 percent of the GDP of Metropolitan France.
In 2022 the GDP of the Paris Region was the second largest in Europe, ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany and behind Greater London in the United Kingdom. The GDP per inhabitant was the 4th highest in Europe, after Luxembourg, Brussels, and Hamburg.
The Paris Regional GDP grew steadily by an average of 2.3 percent a year between 1993 and 2007. However, during the recession of 2009, the GDP declined sharply by 4.9 percent, before recovering and growing again.
The Paris Regional economy is largely a tertiary, or services, economy. The tertiary sector, including business and financial services, government, education, and health, accounted for 90 percent of the value added, placing the Paris Region just behind Greater London and Brussels. The value added by industry dropped from 12 percent in 2000 to 8 percent in 2011.
Official estimations ranked the Paris Region by GDP as the 5th-largest urban economy in the world, after Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles and Seoul: City Official est.NominalGDP ($BN) 1. Tokyo (2007)Approx., 2007 est. / GDP of Tokyo Metropolitan Area (Prefecture of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba) is 165 trillion yen (approximately US$1.9 trillion). Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. Retrieved 8 June 2010. 2. New York (2014)2014 est. Bureau of Economic Analysis. U.S. Department of Commerce. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2016. 3. London (2014)2021 est. / Office for National Statistics 4. Los Angeles (2014) 5. Seoul (2014)2014 est. Statistics Korea via Joongang Daily 2014 average exchange rate at 1,053KRW per USD. 6. Paris (2013)2013 est. / INSEE €631,614million according to INSEE, i.e. US$688 billion at current exchange rates, using the 2015 euro/dollar exchange rate 7. Chicago (2014) 8. Houston (2014) 9. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (2014) 10. São Paulo (2011)
(See List of cities by GDP for more figures.)
Fortune Global 500 companies In 2015, the Paris Region hosted the world headquarters of 29 of the 31 French companies listed in the Fortune Global 500, the 500 largest corporations in the world by revenue. The top twelve French companies listed in the Fortune Global 500 for 2015 all have their headquarters in the Paris Region in either the city or the suburbs.
Top twelve Fortune Global 500 companies headquartered in the Paris Region (2015) Local rankFG 500 rankCompany name Industry Revenues ($ millions, 2014)Location 1 11 TotalEnergies Petroleum refining 212,108Courbevoie (La Défense) 2 20 Axa Insurance: Life, health (stock) 162,7628th arrondissement 3 42 BNP Paribas Banks: Commercial and savings 124,3339th arrondissement 4 49 Société Générale Banks: Commercial and savings 118,2329th arrondissement 5 58 Crédit Agricole Banks: Commercial and savings 106,198La Defense 6 64 Carrefour Food and drug stores 101,238Boulogne-Billancourt 7 73 Engie Energy 99,073Nanterre (La Defense) 8 78 EDF Utilities (electricity) 96,6698th arrondissement 9 128 Peugeot Motor vehicles and parts 71,11116th arrondissement 10 134 BPCE Banks: Commercials and savings 68,98613th arrondissement 11 148 Finatis (Groupe Casino) Food and drug stores 65,22215th arrondissement 12 166 CNP Assurances Insurance: Life, health (stock) 59,64815th arrondissement Note: The Franco-German aerospace company EADS has its dual world headquarters in Paris and Munich but it is not listed here becauseFortune magazine considered it was located in the Netherlands, where it was legally incorporated for tax reasons.
Paris Region employment by sector The economy of both Paris and the Paris Region is primarily a service economy. The part of industry in the Paris Region economy has been steadily shrinking; the number of industrial employees dropped from 532,539, or 9.6 percent of the working population, in 2007 to 463,201, or 8.2 percent, in 2012. Employment in the Paris Regional economy, like that of the economy of the City of Paris, is overwhelming in commerce, services, transport, public administration, education, health and social welfare.
+ Employment in Paris Region by sector in 2012 (source: INSEE)SectorEmployees%Agriculture0.2%Industry8.2%Construction5.2%Commerce, transport, services59.5% Administration, education, health, social services26.0%
The picture is very similar in the City of Paris itself, where commerce, services and government account for more than ninety percent of employment in 2012.
+ Employment in City of Paris by sector in 2012 (source: INSEE)SectorEmployees%Agriculture0.1%Industry4.4%Construction3.1%Commerce, transport, services68.0% Administration, education, health, social services24.4%
Employment by business districts The Paris Region had 5.4 million salaried employees in 2010, of whom 2.2 million were concentrated in 39 pôles d'emplois or business districts. The largest of these, in terms of number of employees, is known in French as the QCA, or quartier central des affaires; it is in the western part of the City of Paris, in the 2nd, 8th, 9th, 16th and 18th arrondissements. In 2010 it was the workplace of 500,000 salaried employees, about thirty percent of the salaried employees in Paris and ten percent of those in the Île-de-France. The largest sectors of activity in the central business district were finance and insurance (16 percent of employees in the district) and business services (15 percent). The district also includes a large concentration of department stores, shopping areas, hotels and restaurants, as well a government offices and ministries.
The second-largest business district in terms of employment is La Défense, just west of the city, where many companies installed their offices in the 1990s. In 2010 it was the workplace of 144,600 employees, of whom 38 percent worked in finance and insurance, 16 percent in business support services. Two other important districts, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Levallois-Perret, are extensions of the Paris business district and of La Defense. Another district, including Boulogne-Billancourt, Issy-les-Moulineaux and the southern part of the 15th arrondissement, is a center of activity for the media and information technology.
Six of the twelve largest companies in the Paris Region are banks and insurance companies. The largest banks, in order of 2014 revenue, are BNP Paribas; Société Générale; Credit Agricole, and Groupe BPCE. The largest insurance companies are AXA (the second largest French company, by revenue, in 2014) and CNP Assurances.
A 2015 survey ranking banks around the world by assets ranked BNP Paribas the 7th largest bank in the world; Credit Agricole in tenth place, and Societe Generale in 20th place.
French banks have traditionally had their main offices in the center of Paris, not far from the Opera and the Banque de France, the French central bank. The headquarters of BNP Paribas is in the 9th arrondissement on rue Burger
has its registered main office on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement, but has its operational headquarters in Nanterre, in La Defense. Credit Agricole has its main office in Montrouge in the southern Paris suburbs. BPCE has its main office on Avenue Pierre Mendès in the 1st arrondissement.
Automobiles Paris was the birthplace of the French automobile industry, and in 2014 France was the 13th largest automobile manufacturer in the world by unit production, and the third-largest in Europe, after Germany and Spain. Paris is home to two major auto-manufacturing firms; PSA Group, which owns the Peugeot and Citroën brands, and Renault, which owns both the Renault brand and Dacia of Romania, Renault Samsung Motors of South Korea, and 43 percent of Nissan. The headquarters of Renault is in Boulogne-Billancourt, in the Paris Region, where for decades the company had a huge assembly plant, now closed. Renault Trucks is a major producer of commercial vehicles and is owned by Volvo. In 2015 the French government increased its share of ownership in Renault to 19.73 percent, in order to have more control over the social policy of the company.France raises Renault stake to ensure long-term control Reuters 8 April 2015 In 2012 PSA Group was the second-largest automobile manufacturer in Europe, and the ninth-largest in the world, with 2.9 million units. In 2009 it had been the 6th largest automobile manufacturer. The headquarters of the company is in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. A large part of the automobiles of both companies are made outside France.
Energy TotalEnergies, one of the five largest enterprises in France by revenue, and the 14th largest company in the 2015 Fortune Global 500. Total operates in 130 countries around the world, Its headquarters is located in Courbevoie, in the business district of La Defense.
Engie is the second-largest energy company in France and in the Paris Region. Formerly known before April 2015 as GDF-Suez, it is a multinational electric utility company, involved in electric generation and distribution, natural gas and renewable energy. It was founded in 1858 as the Universal Suez Canal Company, to build the Suez Canal. It purchased the solar power electricity producer Solairedirect in 2015, making it the largest provider in France. Its headquarters is located in Courbevoie, in the business district of La Defense. According to the Fortune Global 500 in 2015, it is the 7th largest company in France by revenue, and the 73rd in the world.
Électricité de France, or EDF, is the 8th largest French company by revenue and the 78th in the 2015 Global 500. Mostly owned by French government, the company operates 58 nuclear reactors located on twenty sites around France. The headquarters is at 22-30 Avenue Wagram in the 8th arrondissement in Paris, while it also has a large office building in Courbevoie in the La Defense business district.
Food and drugstores