How many poor people in France? A question of statistical methods – Liberation

How many poor are there in France? Are they 9 million, 10.2 million or 14.6 million? There are several ways to approach the question, according to a note from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), « monetary poverty, deprivation and financial difficulties », Published this Tuesday, April 8. For example, people who say they end up the month « Very difficult » Or « Difficult » After carrying out their essential expenses (housing, food, transport, etc.), are much more numerous than those recognized by the poverty measures generally used by INSEE. How to explain it?

To assess poverty, INSEE (which does not integrate into its calculations the homeless people, people living in an institution, the inhabitants of Mayotte …) usually use two approaches, presented as « Complementary ». First the institute looks at the financial resources of households and considers as « poor » People whose standard of living is below the poverty line (that is to say a standard of living below 60 % of the median standard of living), currently 1,216 euros per month for a person living alone. Almost 15 % of French people are concerned, that is to say 10.2 million people.

It is then the concrete living conditions that are studied, from the angle of « Material and social deprivation » : for example, the impossibility of heating up properly, buying or consuming certain essential goods, or paying compulsory expenses. This time, 9 million people are affected, or 14 % of the population. It is therefore possible to be considered poor without suffering from material or social deprivation, according to for example the property situation of the person, their consumption needs but also, for a part, its feelings (INSEE quotes as an example the temperature at which it is estimated to be « Sufficient heated »).

The novelty in this last report is taking into account the feeling that the household has its financial situation at the end of the month, after its current expenses. And there, 22 % of the population, or 14.6 million people, are affected. Of these 22 %, some do not have a standard of living below the poverty line or are not in a situation of material and social deprivation. Thus, notes the note, « 20 % of people declaring only financial difficulties have a standard of living above around 2,400 euros per month, or almost double the monetary poverty line. » But 62 % of them are close to the poverty line, and could switch to any time. If we add these three approaches, 4.5 % of French people accumulate them, 10 % are affected by two of the three and 18 % by only one of them.

Whatever the criterion watched, unemployed people are the most affected. This observation does not evolve over time. However, occupying a job does not allow poverty to escape. A quarter of employees have either an income below the poverty line, or suffer deprivation, or declare financial difficulties. This situation should alert. Especially since the slowdown in job creation since 2024, as well asInflation not yet offset by the wage increasecould lead to accentuating these weaknesses, according to other reports from the INSEE last year.

No evolution either for single -parent families and couples with at least three dependent children. These households are always very strongly affected by poverty: 57 % of single -parent families are affected by a situation of monetary poverty, deprivation or financial difficulties, and 50 % of large families.

Poverty remains always more significant in urban territories. Thus monetary poverty continues to concern more residents of urban areas (17 %) than those in rural areas (14 %). But poverty has increased in rural areas in recent years, particularly in isolated territories. In a July report, INSEE wrote as well as « The gap (of poverty) is reduced » between urban and rural areas. Whatever the territory, a third of the inhabitants of urban areas « Denses », urban areas of « Intermediate density » and rural areas « Non -peri -urban (es) » are concerned by at least one of the poverty criteria, concludes the report on Tuesday, April 8.