Poverty rate at 14.4% in France in 2022, a level almost stable but still high, according to INSEE

Household living standards have increased very slightly in a context of high inflation. At the same time, the 6.8 million most modest French people have seen housing benefits decrease and others interrupted.

A level that is almost stable, but remains high. The poverty rate rose to 14.4% of the population in 2022 in metropolitan France, according to the annual INSEE indicator, published on Thursday, July 11. In 2022, 9.1 million people were in a situation of monetary poverty, meaning that they had monthly incomes below the poverty threshold, set at 60% of the median income, or 1,216 euros for a single person, details the National Institute of Statistics.

In a context of high inflation (+5.2%), household living standards have certainly increased very slightly (+0.3%) thanks to purchasing power protection schemes and targeted measures such as inflation compensation or the capping of rent increases at 3.5%, notes INSEE. But at the same time, the 6.8 million most modest French people have seen housing benefits decrease and aid to compensate for the interruption of activities linked to the Covid-19 health crisis stop.

The rate of “material and social deprivation” reached 13.1% at the start of 2023 in metropolitan France, a slight increase compared to the start of 2022 (12.9%), according to another study published by INSEE on Thursday. This deprivation rate is based on households giving up certain products or services, such as owning two pairs of shoes in good condition, heating their homes properly, eating meat or fish every two days, or going on holiday for a week every year.

While the share of French people unable to pay their rent on time has fallen (9.4%, -2.2 points between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023), difficulties are increasing in meeting other types of expenses such as electricity, gas or water bills. These problems concern 7% of French people compared to 6.6% in 2022. Among the profiles most exposed to the risk of deprivation, INSEE points to employees and workers, as well as single-parent families and large families.

For Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the Abbé Pierre Foundation, “We need help so that people can heat and eat. We are not at all in a society of spoiled children, we are really talking about absolutely essential measures”According to him, if the stability of the poverty rate “watch” that there is “state action to compensate for a deterioration in the situation”there “The breakdown is still there”. “We are still at high levels, beyond the 9 million mark, and that is worrying”he reacts to AFP.