General

Poll: 56% of French have tasted poverty

A recent survey shows that more than half of the population of France has experienced “a situation of poverty” at least once in their lives.

According to the phone survey conducted between September 20 and 22 by Paris-based Ipsos research company, with a sampling of 1,024 people, the representative of the French adult population, 56 percent of the respondents said they had gone through “a situation of poverty” at some point in their lives.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed said they had never undergone such an experience, and one percent had no opinion.

Some 84 percent of those surveyed believe that chances are high that their children will live in “a situation of poverty” in future. Only 13 said they expect a bright future for their children, and 2 percent did not have an opinion.

France is implementing austerity measures with a new budget proposal that would cut government spending for the first time in decades.

The 2012 budget proposal of French President Sarkozy’s government is the first to reduce public spending since World War II.

The plan is aimed at cutting one billion euros in spending — mostly by cutting 30,000 public sector jobs — and generating 10 billion euros by raising taxes on drinks and cigarettes and on high yearly incomes.

“This was a budget created to please the European commission in Brussels. It stems from the desire to drastically reduce the deposit in order to control the political and economic situation but it could do a lot of damage to French growth and job creation,” Eric Heyer from Political Sciences Institute told Press TV in late September.

Back to top button