“Every year a report on poverty should be presented to Parliament”estimates Louis Maurin, co-founder and director of the Observatory of Inequalities. To compensate for the absence of such an inventory, the independent organization publishes its own, on Tuesday, December 3, with the ambition of“illuminate public debate”.
This “Report on poverty in France”, published every two years, brings together and puts into perspective numerous data, some of which are unknown, in a language accessible to all. The authors count 5.1 million poor people in mainland France, setting the monetary poverty threshold at 50% of the average income, or 1,014 euros net per month for a single person. This threshold is the one used by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, while the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), like other European countries, places the threshold at 60% of the level of the average living wage, or 1,216 euros, which leads him to identify 9.1 million poor people.
Instead of focusing on annual changes, the report shows long-term developments. “After a significant decline in the 1970s and 1980s, the poverty rate has stabilized”starts. Then, between 2002 and 2022, the number of poor people in the 50% threshold increased by 1.4 million people. Population growth is not the only reason, as the poverty rate has also increased, from 6.6% to 8.1%. Regarding the average standard of living of the poor, it has only earned 60 euros in twenty years, reaching 832 euros. “We have one of the best social models in the world, but we see that the standard of living before social benefits is falling », points out Louis Maurin.
Diving in the territories
“It is a slow increase in poverty.continues the director of the Observatory of Inequalities. But their experience is even worse since Emmanuel Macron gave a very forceful speech in 2018, with the aim of eradicating extreme poverty. » Inequalities have also increased: the poorest 10% only receive 3.3% of the total income, after taxes and social benefits, a proportion that has changed little since 1996. At the other extreme, the richest 10% obtains 24.4% of the income. up to 2.2 points during the period.
In 88 pages, the report describes the nature and extent of the deprivations of “common poverty”: not being able to heat oneself adequately, not being able to go on vacation, not being able to cope with an unexpected expense of 1,000 euros…
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