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France’s Poor Reach 9.8 Million as Charity’s 30-Year Barometer Signals Deepening Hardship

Secours Catholique says France is off track to meet its 2030 pledge to eliminate extreme poverty.

Overview

  • INSEE data show 9.8 million people living in poverty in 2025, a rise of 650,000 in a single year.
  • The median standard of living among households aided by Secours Catholique in 2024 was about €565 per month.
  • A growing share of people seeking help report health problems that contribute to long-term financial precarity.
  • The profile of those affected has shifted toward single mothers in insecure jobs, families of foreign nationals including asylum-seekers, older women with health issues in rural areas, and young adults on short-term or part-time contracts.
  • Children account for 39% of those helped, 25.7% of families reported no income, seniors’ representation has tripled since 1999, and rural households now make up more than one in six cases.