subsistence level
noun phraseUK /səbˈsɪstəns ˈlɛvəl/
US /səbˈsɪstəns ˈlɛvəl/
The smallest amount of food, money, and things a person needs to stay alive and healthy.
The family's income barely kept them at subsistence level.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. The lowest income needed to buy only the basic necessities of life.
Many workers were paid below subsistence level.
3. A farming system that grows just enough food to feed the farmer's own family.
They lived at subsistence level, growing only what they ate.
4. The minimum resources required for an organism or group to survive.
The deer population dropped to its subsistence level during the drought.