subsistence level

noun

1. a standard of living barely adequate to support life

Example Sentences

His income in the collective was only on the subsistence level.

From Project Gutenberg

Exports and imports were no longer a tiny margin in an economy just above the subsistence level.

From Project Gutenberg

The wage earners were well above the subsistence level as long as trade was good.

From Project Gutenberg

In the first case, a subsistence level is preserved; in the second, new levels of self-constitution are made possible.

From Project Gutenberg

The peasants represented over 80 percent of the total population, most of whom lived at or below subsistence level.

From Project Gutenberg