Advance estimate of the poverty rate and inequality indicators Experimental results for 2015

Every year in September, INSEE publishes the poverty rate and the main indicators of inequalities in standard of living for the previous year but one. In September 2016, these indicators were therefore published for 2014. Since it is preferable to have indicators available earlier, INSEE decided to publish an advanced estimate for year N at the end of year N+1 using an experimental method based on microsimulation. This method was applied for the first time at the end of 2015 for the year 2014, and provided advanced results for 2014 which were similar to the definitive data published in September 2016: a very slight increase in the poverty rate and inequalities as measured by the GINI index. When applied to 2015, this method suggests that there will continue to be an increase in the poverty rate (+0.2 points) and, to a lesser extent, in inequalities (+0.003 for the GINI index). By 2015, the poverty rate was set to reach 14.3% of the population. The definitive data will be published in September 2017.