Poverty in France has reached the highest level since the 1970s, according to research released this week. In particular, food distribution is an issue in France, with some families struggling to put food on the table from month-to-month.

“This is the highest level in almost 30 years. To find a comparable situation, you have to go back to the 1970s”, points out Michel Duée, head of the Household Resources and Living Conditions department at INSEE (the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies).

Year-on-year, the daily lives of working class French people are getting steadily worse, charity Emmaüs Solidarité warned. “We can see it clearly in the food distribution: from the 10th of the month onwards, it’s no longer the end of the month that’s difficult, it’s the beginning”, said Lotfi Ouanezar, the charity’s Director General.

One of the main causes of this surge in poverty, according to INSEE, “is explained by the end of exceptional aid, notably the inflation allowance and the exceptional back-to-school bonus, which were introduced in 2022 to support purchasing power”.

“The other explanation is the increase, among the self-employed, in the share of micro-entrepreneurs with low incomes”, the reseachers added.

The worsening financial climate has taken place under successive governments, however French President Emmanuel Macron has done little to mitigate the crisis. In 2023, France’s poverty rate reached 15.4% – the highest level since 1996, with nearly 10 million people living below the monetary poverty threshold. This translates to roughly one in seven people living in poverty.