According to a report by the Observatory of inequalities published Tuesday, France has 5.1 million wealthy. A "France of the privileged" who "is doing well", say the authors of this study, who wanted to make wealth an object of statistical study, poverty being more commonly studied and measured.

France has 5.1 million rich people, according to a report of the Observatory of inequalities published Tuesday which attempts to sketch a portrait of the wealthy classes and proposes to define a "wealth threshold", equivalent to twice the median income.

"The France of the privileged is doing well," say the authors of this report, who wanted for the first time to make wealth an object of statistical study - poverty being more commonly studied and measured.

France is one of the countries where the rich are the richest in Europe. Finally, taxes do not seem to bother them that much. ⤵️https: //t.co/02THnru6Uypic.twitter.com/lBAvAN07MV

- Observatory of inequalities (@Obs_ineg) June 9, 2020

The share of the rich estimated at 8.2%

By placing its "wealth threshold" at twice the median income - that is to say 3,470 euros per month, after tax, for a single person, and 7,287 euros per month for a couple with two children -, the observatory estimates at 8.2 % the share of the wealthy in France. 

This income of 3,470 euros is "only a threshold for entry into the privileged club: beyond, the numbers soar," emphasize the authors. "Yes, the rich are very rich in France, even after paying their taxes. They are even more wealthy than elsewhere in Europe: apart from Switzerland, France is the country where the wealthiest 1% has the standard of living the highest, "insists the observatory.

"Too unequal distribution of wealth"

Wealth can also be seen through the prism of heritage. The authors of the report, Anne Brunner and Louis Maurin, propose for this a threshold corresponding to three times the median gross patrimony (debts not deducted): from this angle, France has 4.6 million rich people, holding a gross patrimony higher than 490,000 euros.

"Within the 'club of the rich', the inequalities are enormous", concede the authors, who expect to see disputing the threshold which they propose, because "in France, the rich, it is always the others". 

However, they plead for a vision of wealth that is not confined to very large fortunes. According to them, this would be to "make invisible a category of the population a little less affluent" who prefers to consider that it belongs to the "upper middle classes" to better "clear customs of solidarity" towards the middle and lower classes.

Through this study, it is not a question of "hating the rich", but to note "a distribution of wealth often too unequal to be fair", insist the authors.