2024-10-04 15:36:02
At what income level are people rich or poor in France? When do we belong to the “working class”, “middle” or “wealthy” classes? These central questions are often left vague. Everyone has their own definition based on what suits them. In addition, frequently, the figures mentioned do not take into account the size of households. Apart from living alone or with five people on the same income, it’s not really the same. Let’s try to see it more clearly.
To do this, you must start by defining income brackets. Here we use the definitions from the Observatory of Inequalities. At the bottom of the scale, we find the categories that we would describe as “popular”, whose incomes are between 0 and 30% of the lowest incomes. This is the France of workers and employees, of low-skilled people. Within these categories, poor people are those whose standard of living is less than half of the standard of living median (1,930 euros per month), the poverty line. The “middle classes” bring together half of the population between 30% and 80% of income. It is an intermediate France between these popular categories and the upper part. The “wealthy classes”, especially senior executives, occupy the top 20% of incomes and the “rich” those whose standard of living is twice the median income.
There are different ways to measure income. We use the income that INSEE calls “disposable”. This brings together all types of income, such as salaries or income from assets (rents for example). Income tax is removed and social benefits received, such as housing allowances, are added. The idea is to measure what we really have to spend.
Then, we must differentiate the standards of living according to the number of people per household. We have distinguished six main types of homes in our table, the main ones, but there are obviously many more. To move from one type of household to another, we use the INSEE share system, called “ consumption units “. In this system, the first adult is worth a full share and people over 14 are worth a half share.
Based on this definition, in France, a single person is considered poor if they live on less than 1,014 euros per month (at the threshold of 50% of the median standard of living), they belong to the working classes if they have less than 1,608 euros, to the middle classes if they receive between 1,608 and 2,941 euros (Insee 2022 data). From 2,941 euros it is considered well-off, and rich beyond 4,055 euros. The poverty threshold is 1,521 euros per month for couples without children. They belong to the middle classes between 2,413 euros and 4,411 euros, and are rich from 6,083 euros. For a couple with two children over 14 years old, the poverty threshold is 2,534 euros per month, the middle classes are between 4,021 euros and 7,352 euros and the rich have more than 10,138 euros.
The definitions we use are questionable. This is income after taxes and social benefits and not as declared. This data does not take into account expenses, such as housing. The “wealthy” categories bring together households with very unequal incomes, from senior executives to CEOs of multinationals. It would also be necessary to distinguish even more precisely the types of families, for example single-parent families with several children. This is a monetary definition which is only one element of the social status of people. Finally, the age of the individuals should also be taken into account to be completely precise.
These data do not tell everything, but they allow us to establish a general framework for the debate, using the figures as orders of magnitude. A person’s median standard of living does not have much meaning for most families, who think in terms of overall household resources. Setting limits between the classes, working, middle and wealthy, allows us to better understand the scale of income and to measure the monetary hierarchies in our society. The lack of work on these subjects remains evident in France. INSEE, for example, still refuses to define a wealth threshold. This fog allows opposing points of view not to be contradicted by facts, which satisfies the majority… This unfortunately results in numerous exaggerations and a lack of understanding of the true amount of household resources.
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