The deputy La France insoumise is based on a survey published in March 2023. Insee also notes that the French have changed their habits in the face of rising prices.
The modest French deprive themselves in the face of inflation, believes Clémentine Autain, deputy La France insoumise, who affirms Tuesday, April 17 on BFM TV that “you have 42% of the most precarious French people who have eliminated one meal a day“.
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The member relies on an Ifop poll published in early April which actually mentions this figure. The institute went to interview 1,000 people who do not earn more than the minimum wage, that is to say 1,350 euros net per month. 42% of them claim to cut out certain meals because of inflation: breakfast, a snack or dinner. Still according to Ifop, half of these modest people say they are reducing the portions at the table, buying less fruit and vegetables and consuming fewer prepared meals.
INSEE also notes a change in habits, in particular among the most modest
INSEE also looked into the question of rising prices in a note dated March 15. The Institute of Statistics notes that all social categories have changed their food purchasing habits. But that this trend is much more marked among the most modest households.
With the rise in prices, they consume meat less often, or in smaller portions, they seek the same products, but cheaper, or they draw a line on organic. This is explained by the particularly high inflation of food products: +13.4% over one year at the start of 2023 according to INSEE.
The composition of the food basket also plays a role
But there are other factors. Indeed, food weighs a lot in the budgets of the most precarious: it represents 20% of the budget for the 40% of the poorest households, more than the other categories.
The composition of the food basket can also play a role. INSEE explains that “for the most modest, the price of the food basket has also increased more quickly, which may be due to the weight, a little more important in their food expenditure, of oils and other fatty products”, foodstuffs that have seen their prices soar: +30% over one year in January 2023. Result: low-income households feel inflation more than the wealthiest.