The Grand Est example illustrates the immediate shock of the death. The poverty rate among women there reaches 29% in the year of the spouse’s death, before the situation improves for 86% of them once they receive the survivor’s pension.
They specify that the estimate covers only women living at home and leaves out those living in institutions.
This figure, presented as an estimate, measures a precariousness that continues after the spouse’s death and that the survivor’s pension is not always enough to correct.
About 350,000 widowed women over 60 live below the poverty line in France, according to the Observatory of Women’s Economic Emancipation, affiliated with the Fondation des femmes, in a note published Monday, November 9, and titled “The Cost of Widowhood.” According to the Fondation des femmes, women account for 81% of the 3.6 million widowed people over 60. They live on average thirteen years after their spouse’s death.
The survivor’s pension is not, however, automatic under the same conditions for everyone. Depending on the pension scheme, means tests apply, and it may be suspended if the widow enters a new relationship.