FRA · snapshot 2026-08-09

France

Low

Overall risk score

31.4

Percentile of scored universe

23th

Data coverage

94%

vs Australia (16.1)

+15.3

Category breakdown

Political Stability & Governance

Medium
33.1+20.3 vs AU

6 indicators · 100% coverage

Economic Resilience

Medium
35.7+24.7 vs AU

6 indicators · 85% coverage

Financial & Currency Risk

Low
5.9+0.0 vs AU

5 indicators · 100% coverage

Business Environment

Medium
34.6-0.3 vs AU

3 indicators · 75% coverage

Security & Crime

High
55.5+30.4 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Climate & Social Compliance

Low
16.6+6.2 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Technology & Digital

Low
23.6+9.9 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Cultural Distance

Medium
43.8+42.9 vs AU

9 indicators · 100% coverage · not in overall score

Key risks and considerations

France rates Low for market entry — an overall risk score of 31.4, less risky than 77% of rated economies and 15 points riskier than Australia.

The main risk driver is no investment-treaty protection with Australia.

Relative strengths: physical climate vulnerability and secure internet servers both sit in the least-risky quarter of rated economies, and sovereign credit risk rates Low, the least-risky rating band.

Possible mitigations

  • Payment fraud. Experts nominate this market as a cybercrime origin (World Cybercrime Index, 2021 survey): verify any change of bank details out-of-band, enforce MFA and dual authorisation on payments, and be sceptical of unsolicited counterparties.
  • Cultural bridging. Large cultural distance: invest in local partners, bilingual advisers, and longer relationship-building timelines — assume negotiation and management norms differ materially.

Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.

Indicators

IndicatorValueRisk scoreRating
Political Stability & Governance
Voice & accountability (WGI)77.012.9Low
Government effectiveness (WGI)74.713.4Low
Regulatory quality (WGI)72.912.9Low
Rule of law (WGI)73.818.6Low
Control of corruption (WGI)72.513.8Low
Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV)61.860.6High
Economic Resilience
GDP growth (3-yr average, %)1.2% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp)±3.5 pp50.2High
Government net debt (% of GDP)108.865.0High
Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target)0.935.0Medium
Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP)-0.4% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
FX reserves (months of import cover)Insufficient data
GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $)$63,97516.8Low
Financial & Currency Risk
Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN)1.005.0Low
Currency stability (regime-aware classification)Floating — low volatility (<8%)15.0Low
Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification)Category 0 / 72.0Low
FATF listing (grey / black list status)Not listed0.0Low
Double-tax agreement with AustraliaIn force0.0Low
Business Environment
FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI)0.0237.2Medium
Logistics performance (World Bank LPI)3.99.8Low
Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average)Insufficient data
Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter)None in force100.0Very High
Security & Crime
Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr)0.068.0High
Intentional homicide rate (per 100k)1.336.9Medium
Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score)5.970.8High
DFAT Smartraveller advisory levelLevel 2 — Exercise a high degree of caution40.0Medium
Climate & Social Compliance
Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability)0.3217.6Low
Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index)2.728.5Medium
Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000)2.113.4Low
Modern-slavery vulnerability score13.310.9Low
Technology & Digital
E-government development (UN EGDI)0.917.4Low
Internet users (% of population)88.735.2Medium
Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index)1.230.0Medium
Secure internet servers (per million people)57274.610.5Low

Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.

Cultural distance

GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score

FranceAustraliaGLOBE practice score · scale 1–7
Power distanceMedium
5.28
4.74
Uncertainty avoidanceLow
4.43
4.39
Institutional collectivismHigh
3.93
4.29
In-group collectivismLow
4.37
4.17
Humane orientationVery High
3.40
4.28
Performance orientationMedium
4.11
4.36
AssertivenessLow
4.13
4.28
Gender egalitarianismMedium
3.64
3.40
Future orientationHigh
3.48
4.09

Context — not scored

Unemployment

7.5%

Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)

Trade agreement

No Australian FTA in force

Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.

Regional advisories

No higher regional advisory levels

DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.

Compare with

A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to France in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.

All 218 economies · How to read these ratings