Franche-Comté: identity and economy
Ideally situated at the heart of Europe, Franche-Comté has 250 km of borders with Switzerland and is within easy reach of Germany and Italy.
Source : ARD Franche-Comté www.ardfc.org
Made up of 4 Departements (Doubs - Jura - Haute-Saône - Territoire de Belfort), it has a population of 1,150,600 and covers a total area of 16,202 km², giving it a population density of 71 inhabitants per km².
Besançon is the regional capital and the largest city.
Urban centres on a human scale
- Besançon : 171,000 inhabitants
- Montbéliard : 121,000 inhabitants
- Belfort : 92,000 inhabitants
- Dole : 53,000 inhabitants
- Vesoul : 32,000 inhabitants
- Lons-le-Saunier : 31,000 inhabitants
With the entry into service of the high speed train line (LGV Rhin-Rhône), the territory now covers an area with 2 million more people. The Rhine-Rhône network covers 8 urban districts and the tri-national Basle Eurodistrict.
Towns and cities accessible from each other in 20 minutes. Efficient connections to major destinations:
- By TGV high-speed train: 2 hrs to Paris and 3 hrs to Lille
- By car: 2 hrs from international airports: Lyon Saint Exupéry, Genève Cointrin, EuroAirport Basle-Mulhouse
- Two motorways: A 36 Mulhouse-Beaune, A 39 Dole-Bourg en Bresse
- A regional airport (Dole-Tavaux) and business aerodromes (Besançon la Vèze, Montbéliard). With a GDP of 28.47 million Euros, Franche-Comté exports 9.7 million Euros worth of non-automotive goods, relying on 43,520 companies employing 454,456 people
List of the main employers in each Departement :
Doubs (25)
- Peugeot Citroën Automobile in Sochaux
- Peugeot Motocycles in Mandeure
- Faurecia bloc avant in Audincourt
Jura (39)
- Solvay Electrolyse France in Tavaux
- MBF Technologies in Saint-Claude
- Fromageries Bel in Dole
Haute-Saône(70)
- Peugeot Citroën Automobile in Vesoul
- Parisot Meubles in Saint-Loup-Sur-Semousse
- Vétoquinol
Territoire de Belfort (90)
- GE Energy Products France in Belfort
- Alstom Transport in Belfort
A concentrate of know-how
Ranked among France's leading industrial regions :
- 1st region for toys
- 1st region for microtechnologies
- 1st region for spectacles
- 1st region for watchmaking
- 1st region for wood turning and flat woodworking
- 2nd region for blacking-drawing
- 2nd most wooded region (44% of its surface is covered by woods and forests)
- 3rd automotive region
- 3rd region for surface treatment
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