Trends and Figures: Number of refrigerators in France

According to Sofres, the number of refrigerators operating in France in 2005 was 28.2 million and that of freezers was 17.2 million. The average age of refrigerators was 9.1 years. According to GIFAM, the number of refrigerators sold in 2007 was 2.33 million (4% less than in 2006 but similar to the 2005 figure) and the number of freezers sold was 0.73 million. It is noteworthy that in 2007, 22% of refrigerators sold were labelled A+ or A++, as compared to 3% in 2002. For freezers, 39% of freezers sold were A+ or A++-labelled. A+ and A++ are the highest energy-efficient classes, launched by the European Union in 2000, and represent energy savings of about 25 and 45% respectively compared with standard A-labelled equipment. These figures are important since, according to ADEME, more than 30% of the power consumption of French families is related to household refrigeration appliances.