Poverty in France

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).

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.

According to one estimate from the early 1970s, using 1500 francs net per month for those in full-time employment, 44% of women and 24.5% of men were low paid.

A 1972 study found that foreign workers earned 17% less than their French counterparts, although this national average concealed the extent of inequality.

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.

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.

Such camps are also becoming a common occurrence in Northern France, along the coast of La Manche, which migrants hope to cross in an attempt to reach Britain.

[12] That being said, a Ministry of the Interior census carried out in 1966 suggested that the majority of the 46,827 people living in the 119 Parisian bidonvilles were of North African origin.

"[14] However, bidonvilles may have provided certain measures of social freedom and political space for disadvantaged or marginalized groups, albeit at the cost of appalling daily living conditions.

For example, established bidonvilles with more experienced immigrant communities could provide a network of support or feeling of solidarity to a newly arrived migrant greater than what they might find in the city center.

[15] In February 2007, bulldozers destroyed a bidonville in Bobigny, a northeastern suburb of Paris, where 266 Romanian and Bulgarian citizens had been registered.