2023-10-04 12:18:11
While parliamentarians examine the “France travail” bill and reform the RSA by creating a sanction and additional obligations for recipients, the statistics on poverty are published this Tuesday, October 3. Some report the worsening of the situation that the associations have been describing for several months. The number of social minimum beneficiaries has increased once morewith 4.34 million people affected by the end of 2022 while the purchasing power of people on the RSA has declined, established the Drees (Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics) last week. The proportion of people living in ordinary housing in a situation of material and social deprivation has never been so high since 2013 and the creation of this indicator, with 14% at the start of 2022, noted INSEE this summer.
While awaiting new poverty measurements, the national institute is drawing up a detailed picture of households in a situation of monetary poverty, isolating six profiles of poor households, with regional variations, in order to account for “the plurality of situations”. This data will also be used to help implement local solidarity pacts, in the strategy to combat poverty. presented in September by the Prime Minister. More than 9 million people, or 14.4% of the population, lived, in 2020, in a household whose standard of living is below the poverty line, in this case 1,120 euros per month for a person living alone, 1,680 euros for a couple without children and 2,350 for a couple with two children under 14 years old.
Retirees less poor than the general population
Contrary to certain preconceived ideas, working does not help you avoid poverty. Households included in the labor market (who receive labor income equal to at least half of a minimum wage per adult) represent 18.3% of poor households, but 25.1% of poor people. This is explained by the “many families with children, which creates high family costs”, notes INSEE. “With nearly 40% of couples with children, including a significant proportion of families with three or more children, this category brings together almost a third of children in poverty.” The vast majority of them live in urban areas (71.5%).
Although retirees are often less poor than the general population, retired households are nevertheless the most represented among poor households, 27% of them. That “is partly explained by the weight of retirees in the population as a whole”, notes INSEE, which also highlights that 64% of poor retired households are made up of people living alone, mainly women over 75 years old.
For households considered not to be employed, whose income is less than half of a minimum wage, INSEE divides them into four categories. Adults under 30 represent one in ten poor households and include students declared financially independent of their parents, young people who are unemployed or seeking professional integration. For those over 30 years old, a distinction is made between owners, tenants of private housing and those of social housing. “This approach makes it possible to go beyond the sole dimension of income and to reflect differences in living conditions. Indeed, the occupancy status of housing, strongly linked to the place of residence, is at the origin of differences in housing expenses, in access to transport, employment or equipment. justifies INSEE.
Almost three quarters of poor households live in an urban municipality
Household owners who are not employed account for 10% of poor households and their median standard of living is lower than tenants (729 euros). Not having to pay rent does not allow them to escape monetary poverty. “It is for these owner households that the intensity of poverty [l’écart du niveau de vie par rapport au seuil de pauvreté, ndlr] is the highest (35%),” calculates INSEE. Overrepresented in rural areas, the nature of their income indicates that they alternate periods of employment and periods of unemployment.
Tenants of private housing and those of social housing each account for 17% of poor households and share a very high dependence on social transfers. “67% of the disposable income of social housing tenants and 59% of that of private housing tenants is made up of social benefits; in particular, social minimums represent around 30% of the disposable income of these two profiles. writes INSEE once more.
As for the distribution between urban and rural territories, it is marked. “Monetary poverty is more frequent in the densest areas: 73% of poor households live in an urban municipality, compared to 67% of non-poor households,” points out the study. But this is not the only geographical heterogeneity. Poor households renting private housing are over-represented around the Mediterranean arc while those in social housing are more in the north of the country. All profiles combined, in mainland France, poor households are proportionally more numerous in Hauts-de-France, Occitanie, PACA or Corsica. Each region also experiences strong disparities. Ile-de-France, for example, brings together a department where the poverty rate is one of the highest, Seine-Saint-Denis (27.6%) and another, Yvelines, where it is among the lowest (9.7%).
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