Between 2022 and 2023, the prices of goods and services have risen sharply again. Under the assumption of unchanged consumption, this increase represented, on average, around 1 230 euros in additional annual spending per person. Relative to their standard of living, this additional cost have weighed more heavily on the poorest than on the wealthiest. The impact was twice as great for the poorest 20% of the population than for the wealthiest 20%.

The changes in the social and fiscal system provided very little compensation for this additional expenses, equivalent to around 5% of the losses on average, as the exceptionnal measures purchasing power support introduced in 2022 have not been renewed. Primary income, particularly earned income and financial income, have increased significantly, especially for the wealthiest 20% of the population, accounting for 120% of their additional expenditure. For the poorest 20%, the increase in primary income only compensated for half of the losses caused by inflation.

Overall, the rise in standard of living covered, on average, all the additional expenses linked to high inflation. This observation does not apply to all categories of household: for the lowest 20%, the rise standard of living covered only half of the inflationary shock in 2023 (compared with around 80% in 2022). This proportion was also lower for single-parent families, at around 65% on average, and for the under-30s (around 70%).