Secours Catholique publishes a report on the state of poverty in France.

Based on figures from 2019, the study suggests the worst, because the Covid-19 epidemic has weakened the situation of many households.

Poor workers, young people, families with children: Véronique Fayet deciphers their situation in Europe 1. 

INTERVIEW

Catastrophic figures that risk being aggravated by the health and economic crisis linked to the coronavirus.

Secours Catholique-Caritas France is publishing this Thursday its "Inventory of poverty in France".

Based on figures from 2019, the observation is clear: poverty and inequalities are increasing in France, many households are in great precariousness.

An "alarming" situation deciphered in Europe 1 Véronique Fayet, President of Secours Catholique.

"Households are led to impossible choices because their budget does not allow them to meet all the expenses," she explains. 

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The study zooms in on 3,000 households, followed by the association, in order to study their budget in detail.

"We took families or households, with or without children, who are housed and have income, either income from work, or various allowances. And we calculated what they have left to live, once all paid. constrained spending, ”explains Véronique Fayet.

For half of families, the rest to live amounts to between 2 and 9 euros, per day and per person.

For a quarter, there is only 4 euros per day and per person left to end the month.

"These are daily deprivations, deprivation of relationships. And that too, we know that it is important for the development of children to be able to feel like everyone else, to be able to do things, to share things", warns Véronique Fayet.

According to her, families with children are among the poorest in France. 

2019 figures that point to the worst 

To this alarming finding, it should be remembered that these figures relate to the year 2019, that is to say before the Covid-19 epidemic.

If the association does not yet have statistics, it is already observing powerful warning signals as to the deterioration of the situation of certain households.

"The departments have published figures which show that the beneficiaries of the RSA have increased on average by 10%, but in some departments, it is +15 + 20%", lists Véronique Fayet.

"We see the queues lengthening or food distributions and we also see it at Secours Catholique, with people who come to see us and whom we did not know".

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"They were certainly not rich people, let's be very clear, but people who certainly lived in precariousness, very frugality, but made it through. This is particularly the case of young people who really fall into poverty. and find themselves in extreme poverty, "she says, also pointing to the situation of the working poor," people who have always worked, who have never asked for anything from anyone and who, all of a sudden, fall over . "

Towards 10 million French people below the poverty line 

At the start of 2020, INSEE reported 9,800,000 people living below the poverty line in France, according to data from 2018. "It is obvious that with this crisis, we will pass the bar of the 10 million people who, in France, live below the poverty line, in the monetary sense of the term, it is 15% of the population. It is a real scandal ", reacts the president of Secours Catholique. 

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The associations plead for "a social floor" to ensure the French a "dignified minimum income", facing "personal hazards" but also collective, such as the health crisis.

"That is to say very concretely, to increase the social minima. The RSA, today, for a single person, it is a little more than 500 euros per month. So, it does not allow to live, it allows to survive, "says Véronique Fayet.

The request of the associations: to raise the social minima to the level of the poverty line, as defined by INSEE, or 890 euros, for a single person, per month.

"I think it is not excessive to have this ambition and this is what we have been asking the government for months and months", adds the president of Secours Catholique.

"This is nothing new, but we will continue to push this request."