How to define poverty
In France and more generally in Europe, defining poverty in relative terms has become widely established. Moreover, there are different ways to measure poverty:
- poverty and insecurity of livelihoods is defined by a whole lack of income and resources compared to the average standard of living considered as “acceptable” by the society : people are said to be living in poverty if their income and resources are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living considered acceptable in the society in which they live
- The administrative approach takes into account all the low income related social minima recipients
- The European Council adopted a social inclusion target based on the three sub indicators to reflect the multidimensional nature of poverty and social exclusion: at-risk-of-poverty (i.e. low income) after social transfers, severe material deprivation, and the fact of living in very low work intensity households
A wide range of situations
- 14,3 per cent of the French population is classified as poor
- For a total of 8,7 millions of people, the most affected are :
- the single parent families (1,2 million), and unattached individuals (1,6 million)
- 2,6 million of children live in poor households in 2013
- the impoverishment of the elderly people increases with 945 000 of the retired people (aged 65 and more) classified as poor
Please find all the information related to the French Government plan to tackle poverty issues launched in January 2013 here