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Poverty in France has fallen by 60% over thirty years. Although it affected 15% of the population in 1970, in 2001 only 6.1% (or 3.7 million people) were below the poverty line (which, according to INSEE's criteria, is half of the median income). In the mid-Sixties, Jules Klanfer estimated that about 20% of the French population lived in poverty. Lionel Stoleru, in “The fight against poverty in the rich countries,” estimated that 20% of the population lived in poverty in the early Seventies, while Rene Lenior in “The Outsiders” put the figure at 15.% An OECD study from the early Seventies estimated that 16% of the French population lived in poverty, compared with 13% in the United States, 11% in Canada, 7.5% in the United Kingdom, and 3% in Germany. Other national estimates at the time were 13% (the United States), 11% (Canada), 8% (Australia), 5% (Norway), and 3.5% (Sweden).〔Poverty and inequality in Common Market countries by Victor George, Roger Lawson〕 In 1975, a basic tax-free cash allowance starting at £665 for children under the age of ten provided a considerable amount of support for families living on low incomes, and its combination with direct taxation meant greater support to poor families than in any other country in the EEC. A two-parent family with four dependent children on 66% of average earnings gained an amount after tax and allowances equal to 49.4% of its income compared with 8.2% in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, that same year, INSEE found that at any wage level disposable income per head was still much lower in large families than those with no or very few children, while the cost of bringing up a family weighed particularly heavily on households headed by a low-paid worker. According to one estimate from the early Seventies, using 1500 francs net per month for those in full-time employment 44% of women and 24.5% of men were low paid. The percentage of workers who were low paid was particularly high in personal services such as hairdressing (74%), hotel and catering (60%) and textiles (51%).〔Poverty and inequality in Common Market countries by Victor George, Roger Lawson〕 In comparison with average French workers, foreign workers tended to be employed in the hardest and lowest-paid jobs and live in poor conditions. A 1972 study found that foreign workers earned 17% less than their French counterparts, although this national average concealed the extent of inequality because foreign workers were more likely to be men in their prime working years in the industrial areas, which generally had higher rates of pay than elsewhere.〔Poverty and inequality in Common Market countries by Victor George, Roger Lawson〕 In 1974, the National Assembly’s Commission on Cultural, Family and Social Affairs estimated that 5% of the population should be considered as “living in a state of destitution or on the borderline of destitution.” Studies by Serge Milano, Lionel Stoleru, and Rene Lenoir estimated that between 10% and 14% of the population lived in poverty from 1970 to 1980. A report by the EEC estimated that 14.8% of households in France lived in poverty in 1975, defined as living below the threshold of 50% mean annual income. In 1987, it was estimated that 2 million people in France lived in extreme poverty.〔http://www.joseph-wresinski.org/IMG/pdf/Wres_JO87en.pdf〕 Previously, the poor were for the most part retirees. The trend reversed itself in the 1980s with an increase in unemployment among young people; while poverty among the elderly dropped 85% (from 27.3% to 3.8%), among those still in the workforce it increased by 38% over the same 30 years (from 3.9% to 5.4%). Various social welfare programs have had an important impact in low-income households, and in 2002, they may in some cases have represented more than 50% of the household's income.〔 (''Le rapport de l'Observatoire national de la pauvreté et de l'exclusion sociale 2003–2004'' ), (second part ) and (third part ). See p. 26 of Part 1.〕 In 2008, the OECD claimed that France was only one of five countries in the OECD where income inequality and poverty had declined over the past 20 years.〔http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/41525323.pdf〕 ==Status in 2005== Poverty threshold was fixed at 645 euros per person per month. By comparison, the ''revenu minimum d'insertion'' (RMI, which idea draws on guaranteed minimum income, although it is not distributed to everyone) was at that time 440.86 euros per month for a person living alone.〔 (''Montant de l'allocation de revenu minimum d'insertion'' )〕 The French poverty threshold is slightly higher than that of the United States,〔(2005 Federal Poverty Guidelines ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, retrieved 15 February 2007〕 suggesting that some who would be considered living in poverty in France would not be if they had the same income in the United States. However, it is difficult to compare them as they are not calculated in the same way, notwithstanding differences in cost or standards of living. While the French poverty threshold is calculated as being half of the median income, the U.S. poverty threshold is based on dollar costs of the economy food plan, that is, on income inequality〔(The Development and History of the U.S. Poverty Thresholds – A Brief Overview ), by Gordon M. Fisher, US Department of Health and Human Services, GSS/SSS Newsletter (Newsletter of the Government Statistics Section and the Social Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association), Winter 1997, pp. 6–7〕 In 2005: *A million children (8%) were living below the poverty line; *42,000 children were affected by lead poisoning, a sign of decrepit housing; lead-based paint has been banned in new buildings since 1915, to all professionals since 1948, and to everyone since 1993. The risk of exposure to lead today is four times greater for buildings constructed before 1915 than for a building constructed between 1915 and 1948. *500,000 housing units were unclean. *200,000 students were in difficult financial situations, which has led some young women to pay for their studies through prostitution. This phenomenon is on the rise in the country (in 2006, the students' union SUD Etudiant estimated the number to be 40,000).〔''(La prostitution gagne les bancs de la fac )'', ''Le Figaro'', 30 October 2006〕 Nevertheless, social services allow France to have one of the lowest child mortality rates despite this poverty. Despite the positive developments, it seems that rural areas have been attracting more and more of those left behind; a non-negligible segment of at-risk city populations have been moving to the country and joining the ranks of small-time farmers among "rural" welfare recipients. This phenomenon is partly explained by the lower cost of rural living compared with that in cities.〔Alexandre Pagès (2005), ''La pauvreté en milieu rural'', Toulouse, Presses Universitaires du Mirail〕 Another indicator of poverty is the RMI. In 1994, in metropolitan France, the number of RMI recipients was 783,436; ten years later (in June 2004), it rose to 1,041,026. In the overseas departments, it was 105,033 at the end of 1994 and 152,892 in June 2004.〔(Les bénéficiaires du RMI selon la situation familiale ), INSEE (Source : Cnaf, fichier FILEAS, données au 31 décembre 1994 et au 30 juin 2004). Published in June 2004〕 By 31 December 2005, the figure stood at 1,112,400. From December 2004 to December 2005, the number of RMI recipients increased by 4.7% according to the ''Secours catholique'' NGO.〔(STATISTIQUES D’ACCUEIL 2005 – Pauvreté: facteur d'isolement ), ''Secours catholique''〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Poverty in France」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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