According to INSEE, which published a study on Thursday, precariousness increased in France in 2022. One in ten households could not afford to heat their home properly and more French people are unable to go on vacation for a week.
In metropolitan France, nine million people were in “material and social deprivation” in 2022, according to a study by Insee* published on Thursday July 20. This represents 14% of people living in ordinary housing and it is the “highest level since 2013, the first year it was measured“.
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INSEE specifies that “this indicator identifies people who cannot cover expenses related to at least five elements of everyday life among thirteen criteria“Among these criteria, we find in particular the fact of not having the means to keep your accommodation at the right temperature or to go on vacation for a week during the year.
INSEE notes that this increase in the rate of material and social deprivation occurs when in 2021, “the indicator reached a historically low level due to the health crisis“. According to the institute, this can be explained by a “resumption of lifestyle habits prior to the health crisis” and to “inflation [qui] came to erode the purchasing power of households“.
13 criteria to measure material and social deprivation
In 2022, one in ten people lived in a household that did not have the financial means to heat their home properly. Between 2014 and 2021, this rate fluctuated between 5 and 7%. This increase can be attributed, according to INSEE, “the rise in energy prices in the winter of 2021-2022, and in particular that of domestic fuel oil, a heating fuel that vulnerable households use more than othersThis rise in energy prices hits the inhabitants of rural areas hardest, as they have higher heating and fuel costs.
Households are also more likely than before the health crisis to be unable to afford a week’s vacation (24.4% in 2022 compared to 22.3% in 2019). However, this proportionhas been on a downward trend for ten years“, observes INSEE. The 13 criteria measuring material and social deprivation are not all affected by the increase in the difficulties encountered by households since the start of the health crisis. Indeed, according to INSEE in 2022, 4.1% of people living in ordinary housing could not own two pairs of shoes for financial reasons, compared to 5.7% in 2019. The proportion of households declaring that they could not buy new clothes also fell (10.1% in 2022 compared to 9.8% in 2019).
The greatest deprivations among large and single-parent families
Ihe risk of deprivation varies according to the standard of living, the socio-professional category, the level of diploma, the age, the type of household or even the place of residence. It thus increases sharply in rural areas. “At the beginning of 2022, the frequency of situations of material and social deprivation increases significantly compared to 2020 in rural municipalities (+2 points), and to a lesser extent in urban municipalities of intermediate density (+1.6 points)“while she”declining in major urban centers“, explains INSEE.
Single-parent families and large families are also more exposed to the risk of deprivation: last year, “three out of ten people living in single-parent families were in a situation of material and social deprivation, and two out of ten people in couples with three or more children“.
INSEE draws attention to the fact that the situation of material and social deprivation seems to foster a certain feeling of exclusion, loneliness and isolation. “25% of adults in a situation of material and social deprivation say they have no family, friends or neighbors from whom they can ask for moral, material or financial help” and 27% “feel excluded from society“, against only 7% of adults not in this situation.
*Methodology: The Statistics survey on resources and living conditions is conducted among households residing in ordinary housing in metropolitan France. It therefore does not include people who live in institutions for the aged or in workers’ residences, homeless people or mobile homes. More than 17,000 households, or nearly 39,000 people, responded to the survey in 2022.