Insee Première · October 2026 · n° 2129

Over Fifteen Years, Spells of Monetary Poverty Have Become Longer-Lasting

In France excluding overseas territories, one in four people experienced monetary poverty at least once between 2021 and 2024. This proportion was almost the same between 2008 and 2011, nearly fifteen years earlier.

Monetary poverty often persists: 71% of people who were poor in 2023 were still poor the year after in 2024.

From one year to the next, a minority of people in monetary poverty moved out of it. These exits were often temporary: out of every six people in poverty in 2021, two were no longer poor the following year, but only one remained out of poverty both in 2024 and in every year they responded to the survey in 2022 and 2023. The proportion of people who were poor for four consecutive years has nearly doubled in fifteen years: between 2021 and 2024, 7% of people were continuously poor, compared with 4% between 2008 and 2011. Thus, the rise in monetary poverty in France excluding overseas territories over the past fifteen years primarily reflects poverty becoming increasingly chronic, suggesting that exiting poverty has become more difficult.

Continuous monetary poverty was more common among unemployed people, people with low or no qualifications and young adults. It was also associated with multiple forms of material and social deprivations.