How much must you earn to be officially rich in France?
And at what level of income are you considered to be poor
Up to 14.5% of the French population is below the poverty line, while 8% are considered to be rich
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The levels of monthly revenue at which people in France are considered to be either rich or poor is calculated each year by an independent watchdog.
The Paris-based French Economic Observatory, or l’Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE) is a publicly-funded advisory body with a remit of guiding public policy.
It calculates the post-tax monthly revenues at which people are considered to be either rich or poor.
This year, individuals are considered to be rich if they earn more than €3,860 (€46,320 per annum) and poor if they earn less than €965 per month (€11,580 per annum) for all of their revenue from real-estate, wages, social security benefits and financial holdings. These sums are after income tax and social charge deductions.
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“These levels are found by dividing the population into two equal halves: the 50% of individuals who have a level below the median and the 50% who are above it. The median is in the middle of these revenue thresholds,” OFCE director Louis Maurin told Le Figaro.
The median revenue is taken as €1,930 (€23,160 per annum) in 2024.
“Since we consider the poverty threshold as half of the median revenue, we have consider people who earn twice the median level to be rich,” said Mr Maurin.
“However, as a precaution we have chosen not to correlate the wealth threshold against the cost of housing, as we have no means of knowing if this is imposed or a choice.”
The French government uses a slightly higher threshold as the poverty line, placing it at 60% of the median revenue, or €1,158 (€13,896 per annum).
According to the government statistics bureau Insee, 8.3% of people were below the 50% poverty line and 14.5% below the 60% poverty line in 2021.
Data from that year places between 7% and 8% of the population in the wealthy category, with revenue more than 50% higher than the median.
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