The share of “rich” French people down slightly, but the wealthiest are doing well, according to the Observatory of Inequalities


The drop in the proportion of rich households between 2010 and 2019 is explained in particular by the tax measures decided in 2011 and 2012, which affected high incomes.

The share of French people who can be considered as “richfell from 8.6% to 7.1% between 2010 and 2019, which does not mean that the wealthiest have become poorer but that inequalities have fallen slightly, according to calculations published on Wednesday by an independent body.

In the second edition of hisreport on the rich in France“, which aims to nurture a “informed debateon this subject, the Observatory of Inequalities proposes to define a “wealth threshold“, in the same way that INSEE defines a “poverty line“. By setting this threshold at twice the median income – i.e. 3,673 euros per month for a single person, taxes deducted, or 7,713 euros for a couple with two children -, 4.5 million French people are rich, i.e. 7.1% of the population, detail the authors of the report, Anne Brunner and Louis Maurin. The decline in the proportion of rich households between 2010 and 2019 is explained in particular by the tax measures decided in 2011 and 2012, which affected high incomes, and by the measures in favor of the middle classes decided in 2019 to respond to the anger yellow vests.

Rich richer than 20 years ago

Despite everything, the rich aresignificantly richer than 20 years ago“, observed Louis Maurin: between 1999 and 2019, the average annual standard of living of the wealthiest 10%, adjusted for inflation, increased by 9,100 euros, against 3,300 euros for the middle classes. In addition, “the 2017 tax measures were very advantageous» for the more affluent. Whether “wealth is not a bad thing», the Observatory of Inequalities claims to want to contribute to «open the eyeson income disparities, and inform a debate on “justice and merit“. “Inequalities create social tensions because they are perceived as largely unfair“, underlines Ms. Brunner, who pleads for a”comprehensive reform of income, inheritance and wealth taxation“, for “rebuild solidarity and make all households contribute more, according to their income“.

For the two authors of the report, the challenge is not to “let off steam” on “a narrow fringe of the hyper-rich“, the wealthiest 1%, but to broaden the reflection to the contributory capacity of the many more households who “lead a comfortable life“. “In France, nobody likes to be called richobserves Louis Maurin. Because “apart from Bernard Arnault and a handful of ultra-rich people, we are always someone else’s poor“.


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