This is the heritage you need to be rich in France: the amount is surprising

This is the heritage you need to be rich in

More French people than we believe have reached the level of wealth according to official data.

It’s a question that bothers many French people: at what point are we considered rich? Is it in light of salary and income? Should heritage be taken into account? Should age be considered? What about the composition of the household? So many questions which mean that the level of wealth can depend on many factors and is not perceived in the same way by everyone.

However, many organizations have addressed the issue, including the Observatory of Inequalities. For this institution, independent of any ministry or public administration, the definition is simple: each household that owns three times the median wealth is considered rich. But how much does this really represent and how many French people are affected?

To find the most recent data on the subject, you have to look at the Banque de France. There last publication concerning the assets of the French date from February 2024, based on figures collected between April and June 2023. The institution then disseminated information on the net assets of households, that is to say without debt (property loans therefore repaid) . The study indicated that the median amount (50% have more, 50% have less) was then €185,000.

By relating this sum to the definition of the Observatory of Inequalities, we therefore become rich when we have assets of €555,000 net, once debts have been paid. A level which is ultimately not “so high” as one might believe and which concerns, after reading the figures from the Banque de France, a little more than 20% of the population.

It must be said that, for example, 555,000 euros corresponds to an apartment of approximately 50/60m² in Paris, a house of 100m² with exterior in the Paris region, a villa of 150 to 200m² with swimming pool near the Mediterranean or even a castle in Sarthe or Périgord. For the Observatory of Inequalities, if, once the loan has been repaid, you hold this heritage, then you are among the richest in France.

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