2023-10-15 20:01:43
This time, the reflux is confirmed. INSEE reiterated it on Thursday October 12: the rise in prices continues in France, but at a less sustained pace. All expenses combined, inflation would amount to +4.4% over one year (compared to +5.9% over one year in December 2022). And underlying inflation (excluding energy and food) would be 3.9% over one year (compared to 5.3% over one year in December 2022).
The difficulties are not over yet, and for good reason: the return to inflation less than or equal to 2% is officially planned for 2025 in France, not before. It is in this context that INSEE returned to the way in which the French household basket is affected by price increases. This study, which covers the month of January 2023 (1), reveals three large families of households: depending on age, place of living and also, of course, their standard of living – a criterion which , surprisingly, does not appear to be the most important. Detail review.
1. Those over 75 are the most affected by inflation
The observation: the age of the household explains the biggest disparities in inflation from one household to another. According to INSEE, households under the age of 30 bore, in January 2023, inflation 2.2 percentage points lower than that of households over the age of 75, on average.
L’explication : this difference comes primarily from energy costs for housing, explains INSEE. In fact, those under 30 devote 3% of their spending to this item, while this share reaches 9% for those over 75 (and 6% for those aged 60 to 74).
Older households often occupy larger homes than young people, even for equivalent household sizes. Those over 75 also use more gas or fuel oil, the prices of which have jumped significantly more than those of electricity over the twelve months preceding the study.
Food constitutes another factor in the inflation gap, just like energy. Those under 30 devote around 11% of their budget to this consumption item, this share rises to around 21% for those over 60.
In addition, it turns out that older households, especially those over 75, buy products more affected by inflation: proteins of animal origin (meat, fish, eggs and dairy products) weigh more. in their food expenses; however, they have increased more (between + 14% and + 19% over one year in January 2023) than all food products (+ 13.4%).
Only one factor attenuates – slightly – the inflation differences with the youngest: fuels to which young people devote 3% of their budget, compared to 2% for older people.
2. Households in small towns are also more affected
The observation: the place of residence also plays a significant role in inflation differences between households. Inflation is currently, all things being equal, higher in small municipalities.
This factor nevertheless induces inflation disparities that are less pronounced than those linked to the age of the household. The gap amounted to an average of 0.6 percentage points in January 2023 between a household living in a rural commune and a household residing in the Paris metropolitan area.
L’explication : housing energy also drives inflation gaps between rural households or small towns on the one hand, and those in large cities or the Paris metropolitan area on the other.
This is because the weight of these expenses is greater in the less urban areas (7% of the budget in rural areas, compared to just over 3% in the Paris metropolitan area), where oil heating and gas in tanks, the cost of which has increased significantly, are still very present.
Fuels also contribute, and in a significant way, to the disparities between small towns and metropolises. This purchase weighs almost half as much in large cities or the Paris metropolitan area (2 to 3% of the household budget) as in smaller cities or rural areas (4 to 5%).
3. The most modest, too, are among those most concerned
The observation: the standard of living is also a factor in inflation disparity between households. At first glance, this seems the most obvious explanation for the discrepancies. But it only comes in 3rd position to explain the differences.
L’explication : Food – like all low-cost expenses – weighs more heavily on the budgets of the poorest households (18 to 19% of the budget for the 40% of the poorest households) than in that of the wealthiest (14% of the budget). budget for
20% of wealthiest households).
INSEE nevertheless notes that these inflation disparities “have clearly attenuated between households” over the recent period. The situation could therefore change further between now and the end of this year, particularly under the effect of the decline in the price of food products.
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