“A third of French people fear not being able to give gifts at Christmas.” according to the 5th Donations Solidaires/IFOP barometer, revealed Monday December 2 by France Bleu. A figure down four points compared to 2023 (37%). Furthermore, more than half of households (54%) believe they do not “not being able to give their children the gifts they want.”
“If economic stabilization appears to be taking shape with a slowdown in inflation, the results reveal a contrasting reality. While the climate seems less anxiety-provoking for part of the population, single-parent families and low-income and precarious households remain particularly vulnerable, with an end of the year marked by concessions and a feeling of social exclusion”, explains Dons Solidaires in a press release.
The association notes on the one hand a “slight improvement in French economic morale as the holidays approach”. This year, 49% of households fear not being able to finish the month, compared to 57% in 2023. This study reveals “overall, a decline in fears linked to falling into poverty (41%, -4 points) and the need to resort to food associations (21%, -6 points)”.
Other positive signals, “the share of parents planning a decreasing budget
returns to its pre-inflation level (47%, -7 points)”i.e. before 2022. 29% “do not plan to make concessions on other expenses”, up 8 points. The proportion “of those who say they can buy what they want increases slightly”, by five points (46%).
However, “this improvement masks a more complex social reality”, nuance François Legrand, director of studies at the IFOP. Because on the other hand, the barometer “highlights persistent social divides” and the “end of year celebrations act as a revealer”.
The situation of single-parent families “appears particularly worrying” car “they combine chronic economic precariousness and social isolation”. More than half of them (51%) say they face regular financial difficulties, “nearly double the national average (27%).
For many of these single-parent families, the Christmas holidays spark “negative feelings”. Half “feels worried” (50% versus 29% on average) and “almost as many feel sad” (47% against 28%), according to this barometer. “Forming the majority of these households, single mothers are also twice as likely to plan to spend Christmas alone” (32% while the general average is 16%).
-According to this study, families “modest and poor also suffer from strong emotional and economic insecurity”. 42% say they are “widely worried” (compared to 29% for the French average) and “sad” as the holidays approach (41% versus 28%). Moreover, “58% of parents in a precarious situation say they are reducing their budget for Christmas gifts”a figure significantly higher than the national average by 11 points.
The annual Solidarity Donations/IFOP barometer highlights that “29% of parents favor useful gifts such as clothing or school materials that they would have had to buy elsewhere.” The last solution to be able to balance their gift budget, 71% of French families say they have to cut back on other spending items such as outings to restaurants or the cinema as well as vacations.
Dons Solidaires describes itself as an association aiming to “fight against waste and social exclusion by collecting new unsold non-food items from companies and redistributing them to solidarity structures to benefit people in difficulty”. This year, she is organizing the 15th edition of the Christmas for All operation. It provides for the distribution “1.5 million gifts to more than 400 associations throughout France to help their beneficiaries”.
Methodology
The survey was conducted among a sample of 4,003 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over. The representativeness of the sample was ensured by the quota method (sex, age, profession of the person interviewed) after stratification by region and category of agglomeration. The interviews were carried out by self-administered online questionnaire from November 14 to 20, 2024.
