More than 15% of the population of metropolitan France lived below the poverty line in 2023, a rate unprecedented since 1996, the year the annual index was first applied by the National Institute of Statistics (Insee), which today called for a “strong increase” in inequalities.

Within a year, the share of poor people rose by one point, from 14.4% in 2022 to 15.4% in 2023. Specifically, in 2023, 9.8 million people were in economic poverty, meaning their monthly income was below the poverty line, set at €1,288 for a single-person household (60% of median income).

In one year, 650,000 people fell into poverty, according to this study, which excludes residents of overseas territories, the homeless, and those living in institutions. The previous study, on the French population as a whole, estimated that 11.2 million people were in poverty in 2021.

The results for 2023 are unprecedented for the last 30 years. “You have to go back to the early 1970s to find roughly comparable levels of poverty,” said Michel Dier, the head of the household income and living conditions department at Insee.

“This increase is explained by the discontinuation of one-off allowances, such as the one that covered inflation, which were put in place in 2022 to support the purchasing power” of French people, he added. “Another explanation is the increase, among the non-wage earners, of small entrepreneurs with very low incomes.”

The Foundation for the Housing of the Underprivileged (formerly the Abba Pierre Foundation) called the figures “worrying” but “not surprising” given that measures to support purchasing power were discontinued. “Electricity and gas cuts due to unpaid bills have shot up, the number of those who say they are cold in their homes has almost doubled, and we are seeing a big increase in evictions,” said foundation spokesman Manuel Domergue, calling for “structural measures” to be implemented.