Living standards in 2010

The French 2010 Taxable and Social Income Survey found an annual median income of €19,270, a 0.5% decline in constant (i.e., inflation-adjusted) euros on 2009. The lowest-earning 10% of the population had an annual income below €10,430 compared with at least €36,270, or 3.5 times as much, for the top 10%. The poverty line, defined as 60% of median income, came to €964 a month in 2010. Poverty continued to rise. The number of persons living in poverty reached 8.6 million or 14.1% of the population, up from 13.5% in 2009. The uptrend was particularly significant among the young, with the poverty rate rising 1.9 points to 19.6% among the under-18s. The greater impact of the poverty increase on the youngest age group is partly due to the non-extension of ad-hoc measures implemented in 2009 to alleviate the effects of the crisis on low-income households and the 2010 freeze on the family-benefits scale.