LANGUEDOC ROUSSILLON - Economy
In 2000 Languedoc-Roussillon accounted for 3.0% of the GDP of metropolitan France. The contribution of the region to France?s gross value added of the agricultural sector was 5.1%. The region?s contribution to market services was 3.0%, 3.5% to construction, and 1.9% to industry.
Looking at per capita GDP, Languedoc-Roussillon was at the bottom of the table of all French metropolitan regions in 2000, because of the effect of the low rate of activity and the high number of unemployed. The GDP per inhabitant was 17 827 Euro/inh, compared to the average of the provinces of 20 638 Euro/inh. Despite research and development and the importance of the real estate sector, GDP per job is below the national average.
Production is dominated by small enterprises and this is associated with a production structure where industry plays a fairly minor role. The proportion of small businesses (employing between 20 and 49 people) is the highest of all the regions of metropolitan France : 66.7% compared to the average for the provinces of 57.3%.
Business start-ups and deaths are more frequent than elsewhere, because of the seasonal character of certain activities linked to tourism and agriculture, and because of components of the economy (the importance of mobile businesses, such as distributive trades and services, and the high number of small businesses).
Business start-ups in the New Economy are fairly numerous, but they are mainly located in the zones of Montpellier and Nimes.
In 2000 the market services sector produced 52.5% of the region's value-added, as against only 13.6% for industry, 5.3% for construction and 4.9% for agriculture.
Agriculture in the region is characterised by the predominance of crop production. The three main activities are wine growing, the cultivation of vegetables and fruit production. The agricultural sector is resisting, but it is suffering from the crisis in the wine-growing sector, that is finding it difficult to redevelop and is facing the rise of foreign competition. In 2000 28% of the farmland was used for growing grapes, this is by far the highest percentage of any region of France. Farms tend be smaller than in other regions, with 45.6% of holdings covering less than 5ha, and only 11.3% of holdings covering 50ha or more.
In the field of industry, the Languedoc-Roussillon economy is rather weak and limited mainly to the following sectors: agri-food, textiles and clothing, woodworking industries, electrical and electronic engineering, and construction materials.
Services as whole accounted for 86.2% of the value added of the region in 2000. Demographic growth has been the major driving force in the regional economy, explaining the importance of the services industry. Financial intermediation and real estate accounts for the highest share of value-added of market services with 26.2%, the biggest share in France. Wholesale and retail accounted for 15.4% of gross value added of services, above the national average.
The economy has a strong tourism sector. Languedoc-Roussillon is at the top of the table for guest flows in camping sites. Languedoc-Roussillon accounts for 17.9% of nights spent in classified camping sites of metropolitan France. The capacity of camping sites in Languedoc-Roussillon in terms of camping pitches is the highest in France. With 120 004 pitches for 794 camping sites Languedoc-Roussillon has an average of 151 pitches per camping site.
In 2001 the air passenger traffic within the region amounted to nearly 2.6 million passengers departing and arriving.
In 2001 there were nearly 1.5 million vehicles registered in Languedoc-Roussillon of which 84.5% were private cars. The number of private cars in 2001 increased by 20.3% compared to 1990. In 2000 the road network of the region had 1 295 km of national roads, and 485 km of motorway.
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