The Observatory of Inequalities published this Tuesday a vast study on poverty in France. Among the results are age-related risk factors. Young people, old people, who are the poorest? Elements of response.
The poor are first of all young, even very young. This is one of the lessons of the Observatory of Inequalities, which is releasing, this Tuesday, December 3, a vast study on poverty in France. In 2022, 11.4% of those under 18 live below the poverty line, set at 50% of the median standard of living. (1). 18-29 year olds are just behind, with one in ten young adults affected.
More generally, of the 5.1 million people below the poverty line, 1.5 million are minors. With the 804,000 young people aged 18 to 29 also affected, almost one in two poor people (45%) is under 30 years old.
1,216 euros per month, here is the new poverty threshold in France
Very diverse reasons
“The situation of young adults and that of children is different,” explains the Observatory of Inequalities in its report. Those aged 18 to 29 below the poverty line especially have “difficulties entering the labor market. They often come from parents from modest backgrounds themselves, as our education system is marked by social inequalities.”
As for minors, they “live in low-income families, either due to their parents’ unemployment or following a separation, sometimes both”. According to a 2023 INED (National Institute for Demographic Studies) study, one in five children (compared to 4% of children who live with both parents) finds themselves in a poor family, the year their parents separate. . A situation that lasts a short time. The standard of living generally recovers in the following years, at least in part, when the parent raising their child(ren) alone returns to a couple, for example.
Alone, as a couple, with or without children… How rich are you?
Older people are less affected but…
On the contrary, only 11.8% of the poorest are over 65 years old, or 600,000 people, although they represent 21% of the population. The poverty rate is also much lower in this age group, between 4% and 5%. “More and more women are ending their working lives having worked regularly and receiving higher pensions than before,” the Observatory of Inequalities puts forward as an explanation.
On the other hand, the elderly are in a situation of more lasting poverty, “unlike young people who can hope for a better future”.
(1) If INSEE instead chooses a poverty threshold at 60% of the median standard of living (1,216 euros net per month), the Observatory of Inequalities opts instead for a threshold at 50% (1,014 euros).
