Le quartier de Pissevin-Valdegour, à Nîmes, compte parmi les plus pauvres de France. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON
The INSEE figures speak for themselves. In Occitanie, more than anywhere else, the population living in one of the city's 108 priority districts is hit by significant poverty. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, three in Perpignan are even the poorest in the country. Closely followed in this sad ranking by districts in Béziers and Nîmes. Their common point: a very low employment rate. Analysis.
It's a sad record. According to INSEE, Occitanie is “the region where the poverty rate in priority city districts (QPV) is the highest in France”. It reaches 51%, compared to 44.3% on average in France in these districts. Above all, the five poorest QPVs in France (out of a total of 1,362) are all located in the former Languedoc-Roussillon. Displaying a poverty rate higher than 70%, they are located, in order, in Perpignan (Bas Vernet Ancien Zus, Rois de Majorque, Champ de Mars), in Nîmes (Pissevin-Valdegour) and in Béziers (Iranget Grangette). A little further down in this unenviable ranking, we find the Viguier district in Carcassonne (11th, 67%), Chemin-Bas D’Avignon-Clos d’Orville in Nîmes (12th, 66%), la Devèze in Béziers (13th, 65%), l’Île-de-Thau in Sète (14th, 65%) and Narbonne-Est (20th, 63%).
Furthermore, we should not stop at the poverty rate alone. In any case, it must be correlated with the number of inhabitants. Thus, the La Mosson district has a rate of 62%, but out of a large population of more than 21,000 people, that makes nearly 13,500 Montpellier residents affected by this significant poverty. More than the 11,880 Nîmes residents of Pissevin-Valdegour, despite its poverty rate of 72%.
Less than €890 per month
In these 108 districts classified as QPV in Occitanie, therefore, “half of the poor population lives on less than €890 per month for a single person or €1,590 for a couple with a child under 14. These amounts are significantly lower than the poverty threshold which corresponds to a disposable income of €1,150 per month for a person living alone and €2,080 for a couple with a child”, details INSEE.
The new map of QPVs in the region. Antoine Llop
Obviously, it is because they are characterized by a gap in household income compared to the income of the urban unit and metropolitan France that these neighborhoods are classified as QPVs, which allows – in particular – companies to benefit from tax exemptions. And yet, as INSEE demonstrates, “40% of residents of Occitanie QPVs aged 15 to 64 are inactive, that is to say they do not have a job and are not looking for one. This level is five points higher than in all QPVs in metropolitan France”. Only 41% of 15 to 64 year-olds work, but these are generally mostly precarious jobs.
A new geography of QPVs
The outlines of the priority neighborhoods of the city policy were updated for the first time in 2024. Now, 1,362 neighborhoods benefit from the city policy in metropolitan France, compared to 1,296 between 2014 and 2023. In Occitanie, 108 QPVs spread across 44 urban units benefit from it today, compared to 105 previously. With the creation of the QPV “Fontanilles” in Mende in Lozère, the urban policy is now present in all the departments of Occitanie.
Only 23% of 15-24 year olds are employed
Integration into the job market is particularly difficult for young people. Only 23% of 15- to 24-year-olds are employed and 30% of 16- to 25-year-olds are neither employed nor in training, three points more than in all QPVs in metropolitan France. However, in some neighborhoods such as Pissevin-Valdegour, “young people represent nearly half of the population”, indicates the Observatory of Inequalities. There are also many single-parent families, with all the difficulties that this represents in training or looking for a job.
“The low level of education of these inhabitants contributes to their difficulties in entering the job market. Four out of ten have no diploma, twice as many as in the population as a whole, and two out of ten have a diploma below the Baccalaureate“, continues the INSEE, which also shows that young people in priority neighborhoods are less often in school, even less in Occitanie than on average in metropolitan France. “In the region, 42% of 15-24 year-olds living in QPVs have left the school system”, a figure 2 points higher than the average for QPVs in France and 12 points higher than for society as a whole.
“A two-speed city”
In September, another INSEE study showed that residents of these neighborhoods move as much as those in the surrounding areas – less, however, than in city centers. In the last year of reference, 11% of them had changed their home, including 7% to have left the district “thanks to a more favorable financial situation”. The pitfall, those who entered it did so “because of a drop in their standard of living”. “It is the very purpose of these neighborhoods to accommodate households that have the most difficulties, often with low levels of qualifications, to allow them to find decent housing, which they cannot do in the private sector. Housing is also one of the elements that should help stabilize their situation and, for some of them, leave this type of housing once they have entered the workforce. It is therefore logical that there is a high concentration of young people, foreigners, single-parent families and people with few qualifications, in particular”, analyzes the Observatory of Inequalities.
From then on, income gaps can only widen, as analyzed by Nîmes opposition elected official Vincent Bouget, after reading these various studies: “a two-speed city has been set up place”.
I subscribe to read the rest