Household Income and Wealth 2024 Edition
With Household Income and Wealth, INSEE presents the main indicators and analyses of inequality, poverty and household wealth.
Since the mid-1990s, inequalities in standards of living have risen sharply before redistribution, but to a lesser extent after redistribution
Henri Martin (Insee)
In 2022, in metropolitan France, half the population living in ordinary housing had a standard of living of less than 2,028 euros per month. In constant prices, i.e. taking account of inflation, this median standard of living has risen by 24% since 1996: it increased by 1.4% a year on average between 1996 and 2008, before stagnating after the financial crisis, between 2009 and 2015. Between 2016 and 2021, the median standard of living increased again by around 0.9% per year on average. In 2022, standard of living was stable in constant prices compared with 2021.
Inequalities before redistribution has increased since the mid-1990s. After redistribution, their rise was more moderate: the redistributive effect of the tax-benefit system amplified. Nevertheless, inequality after redistribution returned in 2021 to the levels of 2018 and the early 2010s, the highest observed since 1996, and remained close to these high points in 2022. Even so, inequality remains at a relatively low level compared with other OECD countries.
In 2022, 14.4% of people living in ordinary housing in mainland France, or 9.1 million people, lived below the poverty line. With such a rate, France was in an intermediate position among European countries. The poverty rate was higher in urban areas than in rural areas, particularly in peri-urban areas. Unemployed people, single-parent families and children were particularly exposed to the risk of poverty.
Over the long term, the poverty rate fell in the 1970s and 1980s before stabilising from the mid-1980s. In 2021, it reached one of the highest levels of the last decade, and remained close to this level in 2022. After remaining at a level close to 20% during the 2010s, the poverty gap, measured by the gap between the median standard of living of poor people and the poverty threshold, has fluctuated sharply since 2020. In 2022, the indicator was below 20% and its average for the last 25 years.
Including population groups not usually counted (people living in the French overseas departments, in communities, in mobile homes or who were homeless), just over 11 million people were living below the poverty line in France in 2021.