The replacement was attributed to the UK's faster growth, sustained inflation and stronger pound sterling in contrast to the euro.

Therefore, France was displaced from a place that it had held for several decades, so it is also behind China, the United States, Japan and Germany.

However, a few days ago, during his traditional year's end message to the nation, President François Hollande noted, "France is the world's fifth economic power."

Early this week, he noted that he would do everything possible to achieve a growth of one percentage point in 2015.

The French left 2014 behind with discouraging news regarding the economy, due to the constant increase in unemployment and insufficient growth.The number of unemployed people in November totaled 3.48 million, accounting for a 0.8-percent increase compared to October 2014 and 5.8 percent in contrast to the same month last year, according to statistics from the state office Pôle Emploi.

Experts from the French Observatory of Economic Situations said that in order to improve the situation of the labor market, France's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) must grow sustainably by 1.5 percent, a goal that is difficult to achieve if considering that the government estimated a growth of 0.4 percent in 2015. (KH)