What's the difference between "life conditions" and "living conditions"?

"Living conditions" refers to the circumstances of a person's life—shelter, food, clothing, safety, access to clean water, and such. I don't think "life conditions" is an idiomatic phrase. An alternative might be "conditions for life," which refers to circumstances needed for physical or biological life to exist—water, energy, a suitable environment, and such.


If there is a distinction then

  • living conditions = conditions under which you live

  • life conditions = conditions under which you are alive, though other phrases like 'conditions for life' are more common

"This relative paucity of species in the chalk formation may be due in part to unfavorable life conditions in the area where chalk was being deposited, or to unfavorable conditions of preservation, or to both".
- CH Dane, WG Pierce & JB Reeside: The Stratigraphy of the Uppper Crethaceous Rocks North of the Arkasas River in Eastern Colorado(1937)


"Living conditions" is a much more common (about 100:1 on Google Books Ngram Viewer) than "life conditions" way of expressing your idea.