With one-third of national wealth dedicated to social protection, amounting to 727.9 billion euros in 2017, France remains the most generous country in Europe, according to a study by Drees, the statistical service of the Ministry of Health and Solidarity.
People often say that the French are grumpy, that nothing really satisfies them, and that, in the end, the State takes from them with taxes without giving back what they expect.
A situation that regularly leads to political confrontations. What is the actual reality?
Except that the numbers tell a different story: France is the most generous and socially protective country in Europe, or even among Western countries.
Lack of information, of education, or simply an attitude of protest?
Drees, the statistical service of the Ministry of Health, has just published a comparative study to assess the situation.
Its results are enlightening. Here are the 5 main points.
■ 727.9 billion euros: this is the amount of social benefits paid in France in 2017, which represents an increase of 1.8% compared to the previous year. France thus ranks among the most generous countries, dedicating 31.7% of its national wealth to social protection, compared to an average of 27.1% in the other 28 European Union countries. Additionally, management costs and financial expenses amount to 46.6 billion. In total, social protection expenditures amount to 774.5 billion euros.
■ 45% for pensions: the largest share of the social protection budget (45% of the total, or 331.1 billion euros) is used to finance retirement pensions. This amount has been increasing moderately (+1.7%) for several years, due to a controlled evolution of retiree numbers resulting from the 2010 pension reform and the low level of pension revaluation.
■ 35% for health-related spending: Health benefits (35% of the total, or 255.8 billion euros) rank second. They increased in 2017 at a pace similar to previous years (+2.1%, after +2.2% in 2016). Next come social benefits related to family (8%), employment (6%), and finally, housing aid systems (3%), as well as measures to combat poverty and social exclusion (3%). The improvement in the job market contains the growth of employment risks (+0.1%), and legislative measures limit the growth of housing aid expenditures (+0.8%, after +1.3% in 2016). In contrast, family benefits resumed growth in 2017 (+1.1%), after two years of stability. Expenditures to combat poverty and social exclusion increased significantly (+5.9% in 2017), as the activity bonus, which replaced the “RSA activité” and the employment bonus in 2016, ramped up.
■ 61% financed by social contributions: To finance these expenditures, social protection relied on 779.7 billion euros in resources in 2017, which are predominantly financed by social contributions (61%), far ahead of designated taxes and levies (24%) or other resources such as public contributions or financial products (15%).
■ 5.2 billion euros: This is the surplus between social protection expenditures and resources. It returned to surplus in 2017, for the first time since 2008. An improvement linked to the acceleration of economic activity in 2017. The resources, buoyed by economic recovery, increased more rapidly than in 2016 (+2.8%, after +2.2%). They were more dynamic than expenditures, whose growth was contained at 1.8% (after +1.9% in 2016).
