MYTHBUSTERS: Is the quality of life actually that good in France?
When asking people why they moved to France, one answer comes up again and again - a better quality of life. But is the quality of life really that good in France? We crunched some data to find out.
Life expectancy in France is among the highest in the world, and many believe that is thanks to the high quality of life in France. In fact, when we asked our readers what makes living in France worthwhile, over half said they had come for a 'better quality of life,' with another third citing 'retirement' as their reason for living à la française.
When asked to expand on the positive quality of life in France, our readers tended to reference access to social benefits, a better lifestyle and work-life balance, and the idea that France is a good place to retire.
READ MORE: ‘Our life is so much better here’ – Why do people move to France?
But how true are those things on their own? Is France really that good of a place to live in terms of 'quality of life?' We decided to find out:
First, we took a look at the French healthcare system. There are several different things to look at when judging the quality of a healthcare system, so we chose a few indicators.
Number of doctors - In regard to the amount of practising medical professionals, France performs better than both the United Kingdom and United States, with a higher number of medical doctors and nurses per 1,000 inhabitants. France's 6.5 physicians per 1,000 people is also higher than the EU average of 4.9.
Here is a graphic of the number of practising generalists per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU - France has the fifth highest ratio.
🩺 In 2020, in the EU, highest ratios of practising generalists per 100 000 inhabitants in:
🇮🇪Ireland (188)
🇳🇱The Netherlands (178)
A higher ratio of generalist medical practitioners licensed to practice in 🇵🇹Portugal - 292 per 100 000.
👉https://t.co/CbB9AIFJfl pic.twitter.com/NVb8tzTiyb
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) July 12, 2022
Cost - It's difficult to compare an individual's spending on healthcare, since every country's system is different.
In France the majority of your healthcare costs are covered by the state healthcare system, known as assurance maladie, and this is funded by taxes - healthcare costs account for about 13 percent of the average person’s gross salary.
Any top-up costs can be covered by private insurance known as a mutuelle - the average cost for under 30s is €38 per month, and if you are an employee your company must pay at least half.
The UK health system is also based on state healthcare via the NHS, which is funded by taxes which account for about 4.5 percent of the average citizens’ gross income.
Some things are not covered by the NHS such as dental care or prescriptions and for most people these must be paid for in full as out-of-pocket expenses. The average cost per person for prescriptions and medical devices is £303 (€357) per year.
In the US the system is different and is largely based on private health insurance with only minimal public healthcare.
The average health insurance premium for a 40-year-old is $477 per month - how this plays out in terms of income share depends on their earnings. Those in the bottom ten percent by income spend 35 percent of their pre-tax income on health care on average, whereas those in the top 10 percent only spend about 3.5 percent of their pre-tax income.
Doctor and appointment wait times - In comparison to other countries, France was more or less average in terms of doctor wait times.
A study conducted in 2016 showed that 56 percent of people in France reported being able to see a healthcare provider within a day, which is better than 51 percent in the US, but slightly worse than the UK who reported 57 percent of people able to see a provider within a day. However, the pandemic has had a major effect on wait times for certain types of healthcare.
When focusing on elective care in the UK, wait lists can become notoriously long, by some accounts exceeding the population of Denmark. As the French healthcare system allows for a more flexible ‘shop around’ approach for both primary and elective care, these types of wait lists less common - if your GP has no available appointments you can go and see another doctor without having to register. In the UK, long wait times was listed as the 'most concerning issue' facing the NHS, according to a recent IPSOS survey.
NEW: Long waiting lists/times is currently the most concerning issue facing the #NHS among Britons followed by staff shortages, overworked staff and poor pay https://t.co/N9o9iGYd6q pic.twitter.com/wD1jRjgEcm
— Ipsos UK (@IpsosUK) July 11, 2022
On top of that, in terms of simply finding care, France’s unique med-tech start-up Doctolib, which allows patients to book appointments using their portal, claims to have reduced these wait times even further in recent years. For specialists like ophthalmologists and dermatologists, the company claims to have more than halved pre-existing wait times.
But the healthcare system must be doing something right because life expectancy in France is pretty good - 82.4 years compared to 81.0 in the UK, an EU average of 80.6 and 78.5 in the US. The world's oldest person also lives in France, her name is Sister André, she's a nun who lives in the south of the country and enjoys chocolate and a glass of port.
Next, we looked into the idea of "a better, healthier lifestyle" in France. Several readers pointed to the quality of life in France being better due to a more outdoorsy lifestyle and a better work-life balance generally.
Nature and the outdoors - France does have a lot to offer in terms of nature - almost 10 percent of mainland France is protected as national parks. From forests to mountains, and oceans and even volcanoes, there is something for everyone to see and enjoy in the outdoors.
When it comes to France’s cities, the country is home to several ‘European green capital’ winners and finalists.
However, on the “Fresh Air Living” index, which ranks the best countries for outdoor enthusiasts to live in, France came in 14th place, behind both Spain and the United States, but ahead of the United Kingdom. The scoring combined the country’s US News’ official ‘adventure ranking,’ the number of natural UNESCO sites, air pollution levels, and the number of hiking routes offered, as well as general attractiveness.
Is France a sporty, active nation? Well, it depends where you live but overall an IPSOS survey of 29 countries placed France in the bottom five in terms of hours of physical exercise per week, with almost a quarter of French people reporting not exercising at all.
In 2017, the OECD issued a report on how much exercise children are getting, and in this case, France came second to last.
Only about 50% of #children get regular exercise, with far less #girls doing so than boys. Get more stats on #ChildWellBeing here: https://t.co/otF2vzFIjf #WorldChildrensDay #ChildrensDay pic.twitter.com/p0QS0FqNTS
— OECD Social (@OECD_Social) November 20, 2017
Work-life balance - France is often praised for its work-life balance, with many referencing the country’s 35-hour work week. It is a bit more complicated in reality though - the average French employee actually works 39 hours a week. That being said, this is still a bit below the European average of 40.3 hours a week.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: How does France’s 35-hour week really work?
Speaking of time off - it does make sense that Americans might be a bit more excited about life in France due to the legally mandated time off work. In the United States, there is no federal law requiring a minimum amount of time off (though the country does have 11 federal holidays).
When combining annual leave and paid federal holidays, it is Austria who tops the charts for the most (38 days per year) time off-work. France comes in a close second with 36 days total, so it is a good place to be comparatively for getting to take a vacation.
And then we have studies leading to “the great regisnation”. Why do you think US has the lowest annual leave policy as compared to rest of the world?#datavisualization #dataanalytics pic.twitter.com/feNu9i6mTK
— Adnan-The Inspired Analyst (@inspirdanalyst) January 31, 2022
Despite French people's reputation for complaining, France actually performed better than the EU average for the number of people reporting being happy in the last four weeks.
Finally, we looked into the claim that “France is a good place to retire.” For a lot of our readers, retirement in France was one of the country's most attractive attributes, but what is it actually like to be of retired age in France?
Retirement age - It's no secret that France's low retirement age has been a controversial topic these past few years, as President Emmanuel Macron has attempted to reform the country's current pension system. While it is true that French workers do get to retire a bit earlier, France does not have the youngest retirees.
The legal age of retirement is 62, which is one of the lowest in Europe, according to data from economic forum the OECD.
France’s legal retirement age is 62, a topic of debate in the country’s recent election. The FRED Blog graphs employment rates for men ages 55 to 64 years old in several countries: France is at the bottom, the U.S. is in the middle and Sweden is at the top https://t.co/I6KHU91xA5 pic.twitter.com/C0sGvYk6du
— St. Louis Fed (@stlouisfed) July 17, 2022
But that is not the lowest - in Austria women can retire at 60 and in Bulgaria at 61 years and 8 months. However, when compared to the US - where the retirement age is 67 for anyone born after 1960 - and the United Kingdom, where the retirement age is being gradually increased, those born after April 1977 may need to wait until 68 before they can access state pension benefits.
Pensioner passes - Free or reduced travel options are available for older people in France - anyone over the age of 60 can qualify for SNCF’s Carte Avantage Sénior, which costs €49 annually fee, and gives 30 percent off train fares in both standard and first class.
The Greater Paris region offers its residents over the age of 65 (with an income less than €2,200 per month) free Navigo passes, allowing travel on the Metro, RER trains, trams and buses.
That being said, the 60+ Oyster card in the greater London area does allow for free travel on bus, Tube, and most National Rail services in London.
READ MORE: A few of the benefits of growing old in France
Cost of living - This depends where in France you live, as some places are less expensive than others, and as is true in other countries, rural areas tend to be more affordable than urban.
However, on the whole France is a better place to live (based on cost of living) than Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. When compared to other anglophone countries, France ranks better than the United States and Australia on cost of living, but worse than the United Kingdom.
Access to home care or nursing homes - In 2019, the median price for a single room in a nursing home was €2,004 per month in France, which is significantly lower than that of the United States where a semi-private room in a nursing home median monthly cost was $7,756, (€7,637) and $8,821 (€8,685) for a private room.
The United Kingdom fell between France and the United States, with the monthly average cost of residential care being £2816 (€3,322) and nursing care averaging at £3552 (€4,190) per month.
France does offer affordable options for low income elderly people to be able to access home help. Financial assistance for home care (cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, etc) is available for those over the age of 65 (or over 60 but unable to work).
Additionally, those living in care facilities whose income is less than the cost of accommodation can also qualify for assistance, and the same goes for elderly people with financial constraints who need to improve the accessibility of their home to prevent accidents. All of these services are typically available via the town hall or by contacting the 'services du département' (regional authorities).
All in all, the OECD has ranked France pretty well on its Better Life index, saying it performs highly "across a number of well-being dimensions," so you could say in France, la vie est belle.
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Life expectancy in France is among the highest in the world, and many believe that is thanks to the high quality of life in France. In fact, when we asked our readers what makes living in France worthwhile, over half said they had come for a 'better quality of life,' with another third citing 'retirement' as their reason for living à la française.
When asked to expand on the positive quality of life in France, our readers tended to reference access to social benefits, a better lifestyle and work-life balance, and the idea that France is a good place to retire.
READ MORE: ‘Our life is so much better here’ – Why do people move to France?
But how true are those things on their own? Is France really that good of a place to live in terms of 'quality of life?' We decided to find out:
First, we took a look at the French healthcare system. There are several different things to look at when judging the quality of a healthcare system, so we chose a few indicators.
Number of doctors - In regard to the amount of practising medical professionals, France performs better than both the United Kingdom and United States, with a higher number of medical doctors and nurses per 1,000 inhabitants. France's 6.5 physicians per 1,000 people is also higher than the EU average of 4.9.
Here is a graphic of the number of practising generalists per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU - France has the fifth highest ratio.
🩺 In 2020, in the EU, highest ratios of practising generalists per 100 000 inhabitants in:
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) July 12, 2022
🇮🇪Ireland (188)
🇳🇱The Netherlands (178)
A higher ratio of generalist medical practitioners licensed to practice in 🇵🇹Portugal - 292 per 100 000.
👉https://t.co/CbB9AIFJfl pic.twitter.com/NVb8tzTiyb
Cost - It's difficult to compare an individual's spending on healthcare, since every country's system is different.
In France the majority of your healthcare costs are covered by the state healthcare system, known as assurance maladie, and this is funded by taxes - healthcare costs account for about 13 percent of the average person’s gross salary.
Any top-up costs can be covered by private insurance known as a mutuelle - the average cost for under 30s is €38 per month, and if you are an employee your company must pay at least half.
The UK health system is also based on state healthcare via the NHS, which is funded by taxes which account for about 4.5 percent of the average citizens’ gross income.
Some things are not covered by the NHS such as dental care or prescriptions and for most people these must be paid for in full as out-of-pocket expenses. The average cost per person for prescriptions and medical devices is £303 (€357) per year.
In the US the system is different and is largely based on private health insurance with only minimal public healthcare.
The average health insurance premium for a 40-year-old is $477 per month - how this plays out in terms of income share depends on their earnings. Those in the bottom ten percent by income spend 35 percent of their pre-tax income on health care on average, whereas those in the top 10 percent only spend about 3.5 percent of their pre-tax income.
Doctor and appointment wait times - In comparison to other countries, France was more or less average in terms of doctor wait times.
A study conducted in 2016 showed that 56 percent of people in France reported being able to see a healthcare provider within a day, which is better than 51 percent in the US, but slightly worse than the UK who reported 57 percent of people able to see a provider within a day. However, the pandemic has had a major effect on wait times for certain types of healthcare.
When focusing on elective care in the UK, wait lists can become notoriously long, by some accounts exceeding the population of Denmark. As the French healthcare system allows for a more flexible ‘shop around’ approach for both primary and elective care, these types of wait lists less common - if your GP has no available appointments you can go and see another doctor without having to register. In the UK, long wait times was listed as the 'most concerning issue' facing the NHS, according to a recent IPSOS survey.
NEW: Long waiting lists/times is currently the most concerning issue facing the #NHS among Britons followed by staff shortages, overworked staff and poor pay https://t.co/N9o9iGYd6q pic.twitter.com/wD1jRjgEcm
— Ipsos UK (@IpsosUK) July 11, 2022
On top of that, in terms of simply finding care, France’s unique med-tech start-up Doctolib, which allows patients to book appointments using their portal, claims to have reduced these wait times even further in recent years. For specialists like ophthalmologists and dermatologists, the company claims to have more than halved pre-existing wait times.
But the healthcare system must be doing something right because life expectancy in France is pretty good - 82.4 years compared to 81.0 in the UK, an EU average of 80.6 and 78.5 in the US. The world's oldest person also lives in France, her name is Sister André, she's a nun who lives in the south of the country and enjoys chocolate and a glass of port.
Next, we looked into the idea of "a better, healthier lifestyle" in France. Several readers pointed to the quality of life in France being better due to a more outdoorsy lifestyle and a better work-life balance generally.
Nature and the outdoors - France does have a lot to offer in terms of nature - almost 10 percent of mainland France is protected as national parks. From forests to mountains, and oceans and even volcanoes, there is something for everyone to see and enjoy in the outdoors.
When it comes to France’s cities, the country is home to several ‘European green capital’ winners and finalists.
However, on the “Fresh Air Living” index, which ranks the best countries for outdoor enthusiasts to live in, France came in 14th place, behind both Spain and the United States, but ahead of the United Kingdom. The scoring combined the country’s US News’ official ‘adventure ranking,’ the number of natural UNESCO sites, air pollution levels, and the number of hiking routes offered, as well as general attractiveness.
Is France a sporty, active nation? Well, it depends where you live but overall an IPSOS survey of 29 countries placed France in the bottom five in terms of hours of physical exercise per week, with almost a quarter of French people reporting not exercising at all.
In 2017, the OECD issued a report on how much exercise children are getting, and in this case, France came second to last.
Only about 50% of #children get regular exercise, with far less #girls doing so than boys. Get more stats on #ChildWellBeing here: https://t.co/otF2vzFIjf #WorldChildrensDay #ChildrensDay pic.twitter.com/p0QS0FqNTS
— OECD Social (@OECD_Social) November 20, 2017
Work-life balance - France is often praised for its work-life balance, with many referencing the country’s 35-hour work week. It is a bit more complicated in reality though - the average French employee actually works 39 hours a week. That being said, this is still a bit below the European average of 40.3 hours a week.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: How does France’s 35-hour week really work?
Speaking of time off - it does make sense that Americans might be a bit more excited about life in France due to the legally mandated time off work. In the United States, there is no federal law requiring a minimum amount of time off (though the country does have 11 federal holidays).
When combining annual leave and paid federal holidays, it is Austria who tops the charts for the most (38 days per year) time off-work. France comes in a close second with 36 days total, so it is a good place to be comparatively for getting to take a vacation.
And then we have studies leading to “the great regisnation”. Why do you think US has the lowest annual leave policy as compared to rest of the world?#datavisualization #dataanalytics pic.twitter.com/feNu9i6mTK
— Adnan-The Inspired Analyst (@inspirdanalyst) January 31, 2022
Despite French people's reputation for complaining, France actually performed better than the EU average for the number of people reporting being happy in the last four weeks.
Finally, we looked into the claim that “France is a good place to retire.” For a lot of our readers, retirement in France was one of the country's most attractive attributes, but what is it actually like to be of retired age in France?
Retirement age - It's no secret that France's low retirement age has been a controversial topic these past few years, as President Emmanuel Macron has attempted to reform the country's current pension system. While it is true that French workers do get to retire a bit earlier, France does not have the youngest retirees.
The legal age of retirement is 62, which is one of the lowest in Europe, according to data from economic forum the OECD.
France’s legal retirement age is 62, a topic of debate in the country’s recent election. The FRED Blog graphs employment rates for men ages 55 to 64 years old in several countries: France is at the bottom, the U.S. is in the middle and Sweden is at the top https://t.co/I6KHU91xA5 pic.twitter.com/C0sGvYk6du
— St. Louis Fed (@stlouisfed) July 17, 2022
But that is not the lowest - in Austria women can retire at 60 and in Bulgaria at 61 years and 8 months. However, when compared to the US - where the retirement age is 67 for anyone born after 1960 - and the United Kingdom, where the retirement age is being gradually increased, those born after April 1977 may need to wait until 68 before they can access state pension benefits.
Pensioner passes - Free or reduced travel options are available for older people in France - anyone over the age of 60 can qualify for SNCF’s Carte Avantage Sénior, which costs €49 annually fee, and gives 30 percent off train fares in both standard and first class.
The Greater Paris region offers its residents over the age of 65 (with an income less than €2,200 per month) free Navigo passes, allowing travel on the Metro, RER trains, trams and buses.
That being said, the 60+ Oyster card in the greater London area does allow for free travel on bus, Tube, and most National Rail services in London.
READ MORE: A few of the benefits of growing old in France
Cost of living - This depends where in France you live, as some places are less expensive than others, and as is true in other countries, rural areas tend to be more affordable than urban.
However, on the whole France is a better place to live (based on cost of living) than Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. When compared to other anglophone countries, France ranks better than the United States and Australia on cost of living, but worse than the United Kingdom.
Access to home care or nursing homes - In 2019, the median price for a single room in a nursing home was €2,004 per month in France, which is significantly lower than that of the United States where a semi-private room in a nursing home median monthly cost was $7,756, (€7,637) and $8,821 (€8,685) for a private room.
The United Kingdom fell between France and the United States, with the monthly average cost of residential care being £2816 (€3,322) and nursing care averaging at £3552 (€4,190) per month.
France does offer affordable options for low income elderly people to be able to access home help. Financial assistance for home care (cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, etc) is available for those over the age of 65 (or over 60 but unable to work).
Additionally, those living in care facilities whose income is less than the cost of accommodation can also qualify for assistance, and the same goes for elderly people with financial constraints who need to improve the accessibility of their home to prevent accidents. All of these services are typically available via the town hall or by contacting the 'services du département' (regional authorities).
All in all, the OECD has ranked France pretty well on its Better Life index, saying it performs highly "across a number of well-being dimensions," so you could say in France, la vie est belle.
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