Every year, four in ten French people do not go on holiday. The proportion of the holidaying population stagnated in the 1990s after decades of steady growth. Four in five of those who do not go on holiday do not do so out of choice, but because of constraints (mainly financial, but also family, professional, health and other constraints). Holidaying inequalities by age have narrowed over the last ten years, mainly because the generations used to going on holiday continue to do so as they get older. The self-employed's professional obligations seem to be lessening, allowing farmers and crafts people, retailers and company heads to go on holiday more than in the past. Manual and non-manual employees, however, go on holiday less than they did ten years ago. The standard of living remains the most decisive factor in explaining whether or not a household goes on holiday. The increase in holidaying among the most modest households can be explained by the decrease in this group's percentage of seniors, who are less inclined to go on holiday. As in the past, the inhabitants of rural communes go on holiday less than city dwellers, and the Parisians go on holiday much more than the inhabitants of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the coast. At the end of the day, the reasons why four in ten French people did not go on holiday in the last decade are always the same. Moreover, the inequalities in holidaying rates are coupled with differences in the very nature of the holidays: length, destination and type of accommodation.