North Africa, Spain, Portugal… Where are the French retirees living abroad?

2023-05-30 15:18:25

They would be a million now placed in the sights of Bercy. In an exclusive interview with Parisian Today in France, Gabriel Attal, the Minister of Action and Public Accounts, unveiled his plan for the control of retirees over 85 living abroad, in particular to make sure they are still alive.

This announcement follows an experiment carried out since September in Algeria, during which 300 files of “quasi-centenarian” retirees out of 1,000 files studied were declared non-compliant, said the minister, who recalled that more than a million pensions were paid abroad, half of them outside Europe and 300,000 in Algeria.

It is also the country with the most French retirees, according to the latest figures from the CNAV, ahead of Portugal, Spain or Italy. In detail, the National Old Age Insurance Fund reveals that among these retirees, 90% live on two continents: Africa (42%) and Europe (47%). In total, this million retirees represent 7% of all retirees.

Older than those residing in France

With an average overall monthly pension of €284, “the annual amount paid to retirees residing abroad is €3.8 billion, or 3% of the total retirement benefits paid by the general scheme in 2021”. These retirees also receive much less income than those in mainland France. “Insured persons residing abroad have had a shorter career in France, thus justifying on average fewer quarters. The distribution by country of residence also testifies to the migratory history and, in particular, to temporary work immigration, ”explains to the Parisian the Cnav.

In addition to the Maghreb, we also find all the border countries in those which are the most popular with French retirees (Belgium, Germany and Switzerland in the top 10). More surprisingly, in the middle of the United States, United Kingdom or other Israel, Serbia has 10,000 tricolor retirees. For the record, it should be noted that the CNAV lists retirees in more than 200 countries, 10 in Puerto Rico, seven in Nepal or 16 in Ethiopia.

In all these countries, they are also, on average, older than their counterparts in France, with, for example, 34% aged 80-89 abroad compared to 19% of retired residents of France on the same age group.

Also in connection with foreign countries, Gabriel Attal also announced that he wanted to “strengthen” the conditions of residence in France “to benefit from social allowances”. It will now be necessary to spend nine months of the year in the country, against six currently planned, to benefit from family allowances or the minimum old age, indicates the minister. The same goes for housing aid (APL) which only requires eight months of presence for the time being.