Do you feel rich? And are you rich? Two very different questions! Only you can answer the first. The 2nd edition of the report on the rich in France from the Observatory of Inequalities attempts to answer the second question by setting a threshold of wealth, located around 3700 euros per month for a single person.
Who is rich? tricky question. Since there are rare exceptions, each is the rich of another… or sees himself as poor compared to his neighbour. And this statistical debate sometimes gets in the way of the political debate, when Franois Hollande declared more than 10 years ago that wealth starts at 4000 euros per month… then Franois Bayrou replies to him a decade later that at this level we are in the middle class … before correcting himself by explaining that he was talking about a couple with each 2000euros per month. So who is rich? We propose setting a wealth threshold equivalent to twice the median standard of livingposes Louis Maurin, director of the Observatory of Inequalities, pointing out the absence of a study allowing until now to clearly set such a threshold of wealth.
Last median standard of living revealed by INSEE: 1837eurosper month for a single person in 2019, after taxes and social benefits. Clearly, half of the French live with more, the other half with less. It is therefore on this basis that this independent observatory, made up in particular of sociologists and economists, relies. Verdict: the wealth threshold thus defined by this observatory is 3673euros per month for a single person or 5500euros for a couple, after taxesexplains Louis Maurin: 4.5 million individuals are concerned, or 7% of the population.
| Foyer | Household income each month |
|---|---|
| single person | 3673 |
| childless couple | 5511 |
| Couple with 2 children | 7713 |
| Couple with 3 children | 8817 |
| Single-parent family with 1 child | 4775 |
| Single parent family with 2 children | 5877 |
* The wealth threshold used by the Inequalities Observatory is twice the median standard of living.
Source: Inequalities Observatory, based on 2019 INSEE data
Income: 4 key figures on wealth in France
- 3673 double the median standard of living and wealth threshold put forward by the Inequalities Observatory;
- 4.5million peoplelive above this wealth threshold, i.e. 7% of the population;
- 7180: 1% of the population has a monthly income above this amount, for an adult, after taxes;
- The richest 10%in France, receive 28% of all income, before taxes.
INSEE interactive tool: how many employees earn more or less than you?
This very detailed report, after a first edition in 2020, readily explains that this wealth threshold deserves to be refined, for example by associating it with heritage, taking into account rents, income stability or even age. But Louis Maurin insists on the relevance of this statistical indicator: If a person who affects more than 93% of the rest of the population is not rich, ” how can we then qualify it?, supports the director of the Observatory inequalities in the preamble of this dense study.
If a person who reaches more than 93% of the rest of the population is not rich, then how can we qualify him?
obviously, living with 3700 euros 20 years is not the same as 50 years , nuance the authors of the 2nd edition of this report on the rich in France. But the median salary level ultimately progresses little over the ages. The Observatory nevertheless establishes a wealth threshold in monthly income for each age group, just to refine its analysis.
| age | Monthly income for a single person |
|---|---|
| From 18 to 29 years old | 3487 |
| From 30 to 39 years old | 3755 |
| From 40 to 49 years old | 3748 |
| From 50 to 64 years old | 4075 |
| From 65 to 74 years old | 3870 |
| 75 or older | 3597 |
* The wealth threshold corresponds to twice the median standard of living, for each age group.
Source: Inequalities Observatory, based on 2019 INSEE data
On the other hand, when it comes to drawing a composite portrait of wealthy French households, the age of the reference person in the household is high: 57 years old on average for the 4.5 million French people located above the wealth threshold designated by this observatory, compared to 54 years for the rest of the population. And more than 58 years old on average for the 1% of the super-rich, that is to say the 1% most affluent of the population.
Monthly income: robot portrait of the 4.5 million rich in France
- 57 years old
- 63% have no or no longer dependent children
- 82% own their main residence
- 51% of rich employees are senior executives
- 16% live in Paris or in the Hauts-de-Seine
Nobanques: the cheapest offers to control your budget
How much do you have to earn to be happy?
Yet another tricky question! The Observatory of Inequalities ventures to ask the question of a threshold of happiness. And on the basis of INSEE studies on life satisfaction, we should reach 2100euros per month for a single person to reach this threshold of happiness. More concretely, from this level of monthly income, the satisfaction threshold does not progress, or only slightly, whereas below, it drops very sharply. Clearly, earning 2100 euros per month for a single person would allow you not to be in a situation of financial discomfort encroaching too strongly on your quality of life. being rich does not necessarily make you happy… but money brings happiness when it comes to avoiding poverty.
Wealth: 4 key figures on the wealthiest
- 490000, triple the median wealth and threshold of wealth wealth put forward by the Observatory;
- 1.2million households are millionaires: they have more than one million euros in assets;
- The wealthiest 10%hold 46% of the assets of all households;
- The first French fortuneBernard Arnault, owns a fortune equivalent to the value of all the homes in Marseille.
Source: Observatory of inequalities, Report on the rich in France, 2022 edition.
Salary, retirement, taxes… How to check if you are rich or poor