From June 18 to July 3, 2021, a survey was conducted at the request of popular relief on a representative sample of 1,000 people aged 16 and over. Insecurity is gaining ground, the number of beneficiaries of food aid has increased considerably.
Society is becoming precarious, the figures unveiled by popular relief confirm it. The association launched a survey last June (2021) on 1,000 people. The spectrum of affected individuals widens. The pandemic has accentuated inequalities.
This survey paints a picture of the situation at the national level, however Isabelle Martinelli, coordinator of the precarious poverty sector of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region assures us “that we fully recognize what is described at the national level in our country”.
The difficulties encountered by the French surveyed do not spare food. A growing part of the population is even restricting itself when it comes to food for financial reasons. While their means are already limited, a majority of them have suffered a loss of income.
The crisis has particularly impacted the most vulnerable.
Nearly two in three French people below the poverty line have encountered financial difficulties since the start of the health crisis. Sébastien Thollot, Director of popular relief for the Rhône explains that these figures are above all a wake-up call, an alert to the public authorities on the situation experienced by millions of French people. Living conditions have worsened over the past year and a half of the Covid epidemic. “One of the most telling figures is that 64% of respondents say they no longer know what expenses they can reduce.”
Sébastien Thollot continues: “Before the epidemic, there were already 9 million people below the poverty line who were getting by on a razor’s edge. Today, they only have irreducible expenses left. Their difficulty is to know what they still have to try to cut back on today. ”
The number of beneficiaries in the Rhône has gone from 17,500 beneficiaries to nearly 20,000 in one year.
He would like to stress that “Getting out of it requires time, support, currently, for a large number of people returning to work, economic recovery does not necessarily mean having the necessary resources.” It emerges from this survey that many French people are faced with a recurring concern about their ability to pay their current bills. Parents are more likely to deprive themselves of their children regularly, including food.
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