Between 2010 and 2015, wealth inequalities were slightly reduced

At the beginning of 2015, half of households living in France owned more than €158,000 in gross wealth and 92% of assets were concentrated in these households. The wealthiest 10% had at least €595,700 in gross wealth and owned almost half of all wealth. The wealthiest 1% of households in terms of wealth each had more than €1.95 million in assets. In contrast, the least well-off 10% of households each had less than €4,300 of wealth and collectively less than 0.1% of the total amount. The amount of accumulated assets varies according to the position of household members in the life cycle, but also to their socio-occupational category: those with professional assets, households of the self-employed, have a higher level of wealth on average than the households of employees.

Between the beginning of 2010 and 2015, excluding wealth relating to vehicles, household equipment, jewellery and works of art, overall wealth inequalities as measured by the GINI index decreased slightly. However, they increased among the most modest households.

The youngest households have been able to take advantage of low interest rates to gain access to property: the share of real estate thus increased by 6 points in five years, reaching 70% of the value of their gross private wealth (excluding durables and valuables) at the start of 2015.