With 46% of its population living below the poverty line, the prize for the poorest city in France goes to Roubaix

A report from the Observatory of Inequalities was released on Tuesday December 3, 2024. Roubaix is ​​positioned in first place in the ranking of the poorest cities in France. 46% of the population of the “Textile City” is below the poverty line.

The north of France still shines sadly at the end of 2024, with one of its cities listed as the poorest in the country. It is about Roubaix (North). The town of 103,383 inhabitants ranks as the poorest town in France according to a report from the Observatory of Inequalities based on figures from INSEE, published on December 3.

46% of its inhabitants remain below the poverty line, with a median living income of 886 euros net per month. That’s about 31 points higher than the national average. In 2012, the City, according to a study by Compass, had already been ranked first in this area in a similar classification.

Poverty means the lack of resources to lead a decent life, according to the NGO Oxfam France. Between 2004 and 2022, there would be 2 million more poor people. In France, the poverty line is set at 1 200 euros. Nine million French people are below this indicator.

The Observatory of Inequalities is not its first report on poverty. For four editions, every two years, they have cross-referenced data from INSEE in order to establish an overview of the theme in France. This report thus retraces in a 90-page report the set of INSEE data relating to 2022, collected thanks to tax declarations.

Let’s take a closer look at the poverty report in France, 2024-2025 edition. The population of tax households, the rate or intensity of poverty at the 60% threshold, the number of poor people and the median standard of living of people are scrutinized. Another indicator is used, this is the Gini index. Worldwide, it measures income inequality. It is between zero for perfect equality and one for total inequality. These are all of these parameters that are included in the balance to allow Roubaix to be declared the poorest city in France.

But what does the poorest city in France look like? Roubaix, a large population. She understands 86,657 tax households. This makes it the 44th most populous municipality in France, the 4th in Hauts-de-France and the 3rd at the departmental level before Lille and Tourcoing. The town of around 100,000 inhabitants has nearly 40,000 people classified as “poor”. This explains why 46% of its population is below the poverty line.

►Also read: Roubaix, the poorest city in France?

The municipality rises to the top of all the most penalizing statistics, also in terms of the intensity of poverty. This indicator relates the median standard of living of poor people to the poverty line. In the case of Roubaix, it amounts to 0.232%. The Gini index, for its part, stands at 0.298. If we zoom into the commune, the priority district of the City (QPV) of Nouveau Roubaix, to the south, stands out among the twenty priority districts of the North in which the poverty threshold is the highest, reaching 49%.

If in this year 2024, Roubaix dethrones Denain as the poorest city in France. The municipality of 20,000 inhabitants has long appeared for years as the first in the ranking. Common characteristic of these territories: a rich industrial past which has now been at a standstill for almost 40 years. In the “Textile City”, the unemployment rate stands at 11.9% in the 2nd quarter of 2024. This is 4.8 points more, over the same period, than the national average, according to INSEE.

Other municipalities in the North, more rural, in the Sambre-Avesnois territory, such as Louvroil, Avesnes-sur-Helpe and Maubeuge are also the poorest towns in the North.

If Roubaix stands out as the poorest municipality, Hauts-de-France is not left out. The territory ranks 4th among the poorest regions in France after Reunion, Martinique and Corsica. The region has 1,029,032 inhabitants below the poverty line.

Louis Maurin, director of the Observatory of Inequalities, analyzes this situation. “Hauts-de-France represents a popular France with harsher difficulties than elsewhere. The North and Aisne have a poverty rate close to 19%. In Amiens, iGigantic inequalities between rich and poor neighborhoods are observed. It is a region marked by deindustrialization, a large wave of post-war immigration and a policy of building social housing.”

In Amiens, gigantic inequalities between rich and poor neighborhoods are observed.

Louis Maurin, director of the Observatory of Inequalities

The specialist in poverty statistics qualifies the figures mentioned: “It’s a prize list Who depends on the size of the municipalities and their perimeter. If we took less populated cities, Roubaix would not come out on top.” The director of the Observatory of Inequalities continues by assuring that even if the Nord department is among one of the departments of France, if we compare the municipalities, “great disparities exist.”