France had in 2019 (latest known official figures) 9,2 million people in monetary poverty (living on less than 1.102 euros per month for a single person), i.e. 14,6% of the population, a rate that remained stable in 2020, according to the committee responsible for evaluating the government's anti-poverty strategy launched in September 2018.
"The poverty rate has not increased, according to still provisional figures, between 2019 and 2020, and this is a remarkable result", noted during a press conference its president Louis Schweitzer, while associations feared an increase in precariousness during the crisis.
This situation is due to “all the measures following the health crisis”, which were not, moreover, reserved for people in precarious circumstances, “it is a remarkably positive effect”.
"In the absence of these measures, the poverty rate would have increased by at least half a point during this period", underlined the former boss of Renault, who notes that "the poverty rate in France is much lower than the European average".
Severe poverty (income below 50% of the median income) affected two million people in 2019.
"Indicators relating to the labor market have improved significantly over the period of deployment of the poverty strategy, in particular for young people", notes the committee, which nevertheless considers "impossible to link these positive trends to the measures of the strategy alone". .
On the other hand, the committee led by France Strategy "notes that there is no improvement in the indicators of inequalities in terms of early childhood and educational success".
Some 13,1 billion were spent over the years 2019 to 21 (compared to 8 billion initially planned for 2018-22) for this strategy, including 11,7 billion “linked to the activity bonus alone”.
The implementation of the 35 measures of the poverty plan is very uneven: four have been fully implemented (revaluation of the activity bonus, implementation of complementary health insurance, etc.), two have been abandoned, 29 are in implementation course.
Regarding the recommendations, the committee calls for fighting against the non-recourse to social assistance, setting up the universal activity income (RUA), promoting access to higher education for precarious young people (creation of additional places , financial support...)
Faced with the rise in prices, which particularly affects people living in poverty, the committee calls for "guaranteeing the purchasing power of the most modest by indexing the targeted benefits to inflation".
"I am not entirely reassured [sur le fait] that the purchasing power law fully compensates for it," noted Mr. Schweitzer.