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OpinionWelfare State › 🇫🇷 France

What do French people think about welfare state?

Economic axis · 🇫🇷 France · measured continuously, published only above 100 responses.

83% of French respondents take the position “The state should provide health care, free when you need it.”, against 10% for “Health care should mostly be bought and sold, with help for those who cannot pay.”, with 7% choosing neither. n = 112, margin of error ±9.8, weighted to France's adult population.

Where France sits on economic

What is measured about France on this axis. These are facts about the country, not what its people think about them — that is the part of this page waiting on a sample.

Health spending
WHO Global Health Expenditure · 2024
11.5%
among the highest in the world
Tax revenue
IMF Government Finance Statistics · 2024
22.8%
higher than most countries
Income inequality (Gini)
World Bank PovcalNet/PIP · 2023
31.8 0–100
somewhat below the middle
Life expectancy
UN World Population Prospects · 2024
83.0 years
higher than most countries

Ranked against every country with a published figure for the same series. Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators, which republish UN, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, SIPRI, IISS and UNODC data.

The questions that bear on welfare state

Asked as a forced choice between two written positions, in randomised order, with the sides flipped for half of respondents.

A · Health care should mostly be bought and sold, with help for those who cannot pay.
B · The state should provide health care, free when you need it.
World, unweighted: 22% A · 20% neither · 58% B · n = 4750
83% B
🇫🇷 n=112
A · Free trade and business have done more to end poverty than state help has.
B · State help has done more to end poverty than free trade and business have.
World, unweighted: 22% A · 20% neither · 58% B · n = 4766
87% B
🇫🇷 n=113
A · Money from the state should go to people who work, or who clearly need it.
B · The state should pay everyone enough to live on, with no strings.
World, unweighted: 24% A · 20% neither · 56% B · n = 4775
84% B
🇫🇷 n=113

A national figure appears only once that nation clears 100 responses on the question. The world column is a raw count of every answer received and is not post-stratified — it is shown because withholding it would say less, not more.

Asked another way

The same question, as people put it.

  • France public opinion on welfare state
  • Welfare state poll france
  • What do french people think about welfare state
  • What percentage of french people support welfare state

Each has one answer on this page, and it is the same answer.