The pension reform, the text of which will be revealed on January 10, occupies the minds of the French. But how long can you really enjoy your retirement in France?
The pension reform promised by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, has come back in force since the start of the school year in September 2022. The government is preparing to reveal, this Tuesday, January 10, the text which will be examined by the Council of Ministers on 23 January.
As a reminder, in October, the government promised: “a bill adopted by the end of winter 2023“. The text provides for a gradual postponement of the retirement age, to reach 65 in 2031. This was the case before 1983, the year which saw the minimum retirement age lowered to 60.
But how long, on average, will the French be able to enjoy their retirement? In the Centre-Val de Loire, life expectancy varies between 78.1 years for men in Cher, where it is lowest, and 80 years in Indre-et-Loire, where it is highest. Figures from the latest report published by Lthe Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES), which depends in particular on the Ministry of Health.
Among women it is 83.9 years in Cher at the lowest, and 85.7 years in Indre-et-Loire, which remains the department where one can hope to live the oldest. On average in France in 2021, a man has a life expectancy of 79.3 years, and a woman, 85.4 years according to INSEE.
In France, people are living longer and longer, and the Centre-Val de Loire is no exception. However, the progression is slower there, explains Céline Leclerc, director of the Regional Health Observatory (ORS).
But there, do you stay healthy after 65? The ORS notes that, between 1980 and today, men have gained 4 years of disability-free life expectancy after age 65, it is 5 years on average for women.
The important thing is to know until when we live without incapacity, that is to say without disease
Céline Leclerc, director of the Regional Health Observatory (ORS).
And there, the disparities according to socio-professional categories widen: “There are big gaps between workers and managers“.
The state of health of a human being begins to be determined even before birth,”depending on the environment your parents live in, or the mother’s cigarette or alcohol consumption“.
Overall, 40% of a person’s health is due to their socio-economic environment, therefore their level of education, their standard of living, their social environment. The healthcare offer to which the person has access corresponds to 25% of their state of health. Depending on the place of residence or work, too, health can be affected: living next to a highway, or breathing toxic fumes all day for example.
The Centre-Val de Loire region is a medical desert, which does not help its inhabitants to be able to treat themselves, but it is not only that. “Even with a doctor at the doorstep, not everyone will go to see him when needed.“, says Céline Leclerc. At the Samu d’Orléans, for example, some patients learn, by chance and after months of giving up treatment, that they have terminal cancer.
Prevention, knowledge of the medical community, and more broadly, everyone’s education change things: “not everyone has the codes to perceive the signals“. Of the 7,700 premature deaths (that is to say before the age of 75) in one year in the region, 4,700 could have been avoided, explains the director of the ORS. A good part by doing more prevention, a another if the patients had been better cared for.
