Inflation, wages, energy... At the heart of the mobilizations, how is the purchasing power of the French really evolving?

What decline in purchasing power this year?

The National Institute of Statistics (Insee) calculates purchasing power at the macroeconomic level, then at the individual level, per unit of consumption. It thus measures the quantity of goods and services that French people can purchase with their disposable income in the face of changes in consumer prices, taking into account the size and composition of households.

This purchasing power per consumption unit fell by 0.7% in 2025, and should fall by 0.6% in 2026 if the trend observed at the end of the second quarter persists, explains Marie Leclair, head of the national accounts department of INSEE.

In 2026, the decline is “linked to the resumption of inflation”, which “is not entirely offset by the increase in salaries and social benefits in particular”, she adds. In 2025, it was linked to “a decline in dividends paid by companies to households”.

The decline in purchasing power over two consecutive years is not unprecedented, notes INSEE Director General Fabrice Lenglart in a recent interview with L'Express. He points out that it “decreased in 1983 and 1984, then in 2011, 2012 and 2013”.

Over the last few decades, purchasing power increased significantly during the Trente Glorieuses, then the increase “significantly diminished” from the first oil shock, in 1973, to the financial crisis of 2008-2009, before slowing down further since, he adds. For INSEE, the trend over a long period is therefore upward, but with a slowdown.

Purchasing power was maintained because “we had public intervention”, as in 2022 with the tariff shield in the face of rising energy prices, explains Nicolas Laine, economist at the Institut Montaigne. But “this year, we no longer have the means to make these public transfers”.

Why do the French feel a greater decline?

The INSEE figures do not always correspond to the experience or feelings of the French. The opinion surveys carried out by the institute among households note a “fall in feeling” of purchasing power in recent months in relation to their personal situation and especially to the overall situation, and a drop since the changeover to the euro, indicates Marie Leclair.

Machine-translated from French