noun (n)

• a state of extreme poverty or destitution(noun.state)

  Example:
  Their indigence appalled him.
  

  Synonym:
  need, pauperism, pauperization, penury
  

  source: wordnet30
• The condition of being indigent; want of estate, or means of comfortable subsistence; penury; poverty; as, helpless indigence.(noun)

  source: webster1913