The economic situation of France is deteriorating, a survey suggests. Two-thirds of residents know an impoverished person in their environment, and covering everyday expenses has never been this challenging for so many people. Even children are experiencing the problem among their peers. One in two preteens sees that several of their classmates cannot afford to buy new clothes.

Barely a few weeks have passed since Emmanuel Macron announced that prosperity and a carefree life are over, in his speech opening the Council of Ministers meeting on 24 August, after the summer recess of parliament. The French head of state then cited the war in Ukraine and the extreme drought as the causes of the serious crisis.

It is now an everyday reality for French residents, who are feeling the depreciation of their money and the dwindling of its purchasing power.

Ipsos, one of the largest polling companies, has conducted a survey on behalf of the French aid organisation Secours Populaire. The results are more than disheartening, as there has never been this many French people saying that they are having difficulties covering their everyday expenses. The survey on the poverty and financial insecurity in France suggests that 38 per cent of French people are experiencing poverty first hand. The number has grown by 8 per cent since last year, and is nearing the peak of 2013 when 41 per cent of respondents said that they were poor.

Plus d’un Français sur trois connaît ou a connu la pauvreté https://t.co/Xgs8tBkg8K via @20minutes

— Secours populaire presse (@SecoursPopPress) September 9, 2022

The survey also reveals that an increasing number of French people see poverty in their immediate environment. 65 per cent or almost two thirds of the respondents said that there is at least one person in their environment who lives in poverty. This is 10 per cent higher than in last year’s survey.

👛 La pauvreté, une réalité observée par une majorité de Français.
🔎Ipsos publie avec le @SecoursPop le Baromètre de la pauvreté : 65% des Français connaissent au moins une personne confrontée á la pauvreté dans leur entourage, +10 points en un an.https://t.co/8qVoTne5o2 pic.twitter.com/OOMcz78bES

— Ipsos France (@IpsosFrance) September 7, 2022

Even more disconcerting, however, is the fact that the number of people saying that they have difficulties covering their everyday expenses has never been this high. 47 per cent of those surveyed said it was a serious problem for them to go on holiday at least once a year, 45 per cent have problems paying for transportation costs, 42 per cent find it increasingly difficult to buy school supplies and clothes for their children, 41 per cent struggle with paying the gas and electricity bills and 37 per cent cannot afford to eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day. These numbers suggest that inflation, now spiralling out of control, is posing an increasingly growing challenge for French residents.

The creators of the survey also interviewed children between the ages of 8 and 14. It turned out that the majority of French preteens see that other children around them are penniless. 71 percent of the children surveyed said that some of their classmates do not ever go on holiday, and every second French teenager said that the parents of many of their schoolmates cannot afford to buy them new clothes or shoes.