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Subsistence level

What Dr. Dr. Money says
Person hält leere Geldtasche
How much is enough to get by?
The subsistence level depends on where you live – and in what circumstances. But sadly, one thing is for sure: many students and apprentices are at risk of poverty.

Being poor in one of the richest countries of the world

In the Congo, the average monthly per capita income is equivalent to 35 euros. That is less than the pocket money which many young people in Austria are given by their parents. The Congo is a poor country where an income level equivalent to a few hundred euros per month makes you a member of the more affluent classes. Austria, on the other hand, is one of the richest countries in the world.

But there are still many poor people in our country. Slightly more than 1.5 million people are at risk of poverty, among them 372,000 children and teenagers. But how is this measured?

A relatively large number of relatively poor Europeans

The European statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) are an EU reference source for statistics on poverty. The key figure for defining poverty is the so-called median income. The median is the amount that divides the population into two groups of equal size, according to income distribution: one half have incomes above the median, the other half have incomes below the median amount. According to Statistik Austria data, the net median income in Austria was 2,182 euros in 2020.
A single person who has less than 60 per cent of this median income is regarded as being at risk of poverty. Or, in other words: If you have to get by on less than 1,309 euros per month, you are poor in comparison to other Austrians – and you will most likely find it hard to make ends meet.

What about apprentices?

Are you an apprentice? In that case, your monthly apprenticeship remuneration will probably be below the poverty line. In theory at least. Let’s say you have a room in your parents’ house; that would cost you 400 euros in a shared apartment, so you should add this amount to your income. The same goes for food you can take from your parents’ fridge. But even so, many apprentices are still at risk of poverty. The same is true of students.

Poor students, rich prospects

As a student, a monthly income of 1,100 euros puts you on the average income level for your group. You have to pay everything out of this budget: Housing, food, clothing, textbooks. Does that make you poor? True, about two thirds of all students actually have incomes below the poverty line, but 43 per cent say they do not feel poor.

It depends on your perspective!

This may be a matter of perspectives and prospects: After meagre times at uni, young academics have good prospects of earning above-average salaries. Similarly, apprentices can expect to earn good wages once they are fully-fledged skilled workers. (You know this already, but let’s just mention it again: Education does pay off! Keep learning, stay on track!)
Bankrupt forever!
The picture is quite different when you imagine yourself as an over-50-year-old who has been out of a job for a long time. In this situation, you have to expect to go on counting every cent for the rest of your life. Every major purchase – replacing a broken household appliance, buying a winter coat – can become a huge problem. You may have to leave your apartment unheated, and there won’t be any money to go out and meet friends.

To hell with the subsistence level!

Austrians live really poorly, for example, who have been seized up to the subsistence level because they have debts. The current subsistence level is 966 euros. A quarter of this can then be deducted for the maintenance of children.

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Subsistence level

What Dr. Dr. Money says

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