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The annual report of the Pension Orientation Council analyzes the standard of living of retirees. He notes that, compared to the rest of the population, the trend is towards decline.
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– The report from the Retirement Orientation Council analyzes the relative standard of living of retirees.
Are retirees privileged? Behind this ready-made formula lies a disparity of situations. Today, the standard of living of retirees, compared to that of workers, is lower. Which was not always the case. This is what the Retirement Orientation Council (Cor) notes in its annual report which must be made public this Thursday, June 13. As a reminder, we mean by quality of life, the income to which we add the assets, the rents received in the case of real estate investment and social benefits. Taxes and social security contributions are deducted from these resources. By carrying out this calculation, it is possible to compare the amounts available to retirees and those of the active population. The data presented in the Cor report dates from 2021.
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At first glance, if we take this crude table, the gap between active people and retirees seems significant. But here we are talking about a household and not a single person. So to compare what can be compared, the Cor considers that on average a retiree household is made up of 1.5 people while a working household includes 2.5 people. And to make its calculation, the Cor also takes into account the savings made by living more numerous people under the same roof. Certain goods can in fact be shared, such as a car, a kitchen, etc. All these details taken into account, it emerges that the average standard of living of a retiree is 2,188 euros per month, a figure close to the population average which is 2,218 euros. For active people, this figure rises to 2,428 euros.
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Retirees therefore have a lower standard of living than the rest of the population. A recent situation since, for several decades, it was the opposite. The trend began to change since 2017. At that time, the relative standard of living of retirees fell. “notably because working households have benefited from measures aimed at increasing labor income (increase in the activity bonus, tax and social security exemption for overtime, etc.) and from the reduction in unemployment”, details the Cor report. In 2021, the relative standard of living of retirees is 98.7% compared to that of the general population. It was 106% in 2014, the maximum.
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In the coming years, this standard of living is expected to continue to decline. With the exception of a small rebound between 2024 and 2026 linked to significant pension increases (5.3% for the basic pension in 2024 for example) and to measures planned by the 2023 pension reform such as the increase of the minimum contribution (Mico).
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This short-term improvement should be followed by a long period of decline. According to projections made by Cor, pensions would increase by 0.6% per year, compared to 0.9% for income, which would amplify the gap in living standards between retirees and active workers. As a result, in 2070, the relative standard of living of retirees would be 83% compared to that of the entire population, values which have not been known since the 1980s.
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