Average pension in France according to DREES, Digi Mart USA News (France): The French statistics agency DREES has announced that the average pension for retirees living in France at the end of 2024 was 1,626 euros net per month. Anyone whose net pension is below that figure is below the average, while those receiving more are above it.
The average is based on direct-right pensions, which include basic and supplementary pensions as well as child-related increases, but exclude survivor’s pensions. That direct-right average is 1,752 euros gross, or 1,626 euros net after social contributions.
Including survivor’s pensions raises the benchmark to 1,920 euros gross, or about 1,785 euros net.
The single average figure, however, masks substantial differences depending on the pension regime, career history and gender. DREES, the Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics, calculated the figure.
Direct-right pensions combine what individuals earned through contributions to schemes such as the general regime, Agirc-Arrco, the civil service or the liberal professions.
To compare an individual pension, the source suggests adding all monthly basic and supplementary pensions, including child increases but excluding any survivor’s pension, converting the total to net before income tax, and comparing it with the 1,626-euro threshold. For a complete career, the average pension is around 2,100 euros gross, well above the overall average.
Many pensions remain well below the average. At the end of 2020, more than one in three retirees, or 34%, received 1,000 euros gross or less per month in direct-right pension.
At the other end, only 8% exceeded 3,000 euros gross, and 1% surpassed 5,150 euros. In 93% of cases, the highest pensions went to men.
The regime under which a person worked matters considerably. Former private-sector employees mainly under the general regime receive an average of 1,610 euros gross, compared with 2,570 euros for state civil servants and up to 2,840 euros for liberal professions.
Former agricultural non-salaried workers in the MSA scheme average around 970 euros gross. Bertrand Marc, head of DREES’s pensions office, said these gaps reflect the occupations held and associated salaries, not only calculation rules.
The national average drops markedly for women. At the end of 2024, women’s direct-right pension averaged 1,383 euros gross per month, compared with 2,186 euros for men, which is 37% less.
Survivor’s pensions, paid to women in 87% of cases, narrow the gap without eliminating it: including them, the average reaches 1,668 euros gross for women and 2,216 euros for men.
New generations of retired women are seeing their situation improve, thanks to more complete careers, higher qualifications and rights granted for children, according to the source. Bertrand Marc summarized the logic: “as long as there is a wage gap, there will be a pension gap.” When all household income is considered, DREES finds that the median standard of living of retirees is getting closer to that of the population as a whole.
