Poverty in France

Poverty in France has fallen by 60% over thirty years. Although it affected 15% of the population in 1970, in 2001 only 6.1% (or 3.7 million people) were below the poverty line (which, according to INSEE's criteria, is half of the median income).

In the mid-Sixties, Jules Klanfer estimated that about 20% of the French population lived in poverty. Lionel Stoleru, in “The fight against poverty in the rich countries,” estimated that 20% of the population lived in poverty in the early Seventies, while Rene Lenior in “The Outsiders” put the figure at 15.% An OECD study from the early Seventies estimated that 16% of the French population lived in poverty, compared with 13% in the United States, 11% in Canada, 7.5% in the United Kingdom, and 3% in Germany. Other national estimates at the time were 13% (the United States), 11% (Canada), 8% (Australia), 5% (Norway), and 3.5% (Sweden).

In 1975, a basic tax-free cash allowance starting at £665 for children under the age of ten provided a considerable amount of support for families living on low incomes, and its combination with direct taxation meant greater support to poor families than in any other country in the EEC. A two-parent family with four dependent children on 66% of average earnings gained an amount after tax and allowances equal to 49.4% of its income compared with 8.2% in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, that same year, INSEE found that at any wage level disposable income per head was still much lower in large families than those with no or very few children, while the cost of bringing up a family weighed particularly heavily on households headed by a low-paid worker. According to one estimate from the early Seventies, using 1500 francs net per month for those in full-time employment 44% of women and 24.5% of men were low paid. The percentage of workers who were low paid was particularly high in personal services such as hairdressing (74%), hotel and catering (60%) and textiles (51%).

In comparison with average French workers, foreign workers tended to be employed in the hardest and lowest-paid jobs and live in poor conditions. A 1972 study found that foreign workers earned 17% less than their French counterparts, although this national average concealed the extent of inequality because foreign workers were more likely to be men in their prime working years in the industrial areas, which generally had higher rates of pay than elsewhere.

In 1974, the National Assembly’s Commission on Cultural, Family and Social Affairs estimated that 5% of the population should be considered as “living in a state of destitution or on the borderline of destitution”. Studies by Serge Milano, Lionel Stoleru, and Rene Lenoir estimated that between 10% and 14% of the population lived in poverty from 1970 to 1980. A report by the EEC estimated that 14.8% of households in France lived in poverty in 1975, defined as living below the threshold of 50% mean annual income. In 1987, it was estimated that 2 million people in France lived in extreme poverty.

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