1.   The small business people of Britain are the economic backbone of the nation.

2.   Even though women are generally regarded as the economic backbone of everyday life here, their contribution is seldom equally compensated.

3.   It is called Back of the Yards because of its proximity to the stockyards that were once the economic backbone of the area.

4.   It is another in an economic backbone sector like telecommunications, where most of the money needed for expansion has been raised in the high-yield bond market.

5.   Travelers, most of them white and many with money to burn, have been part of the economic backbone of Kenya since the turn of the century.

6.   Pottery has been the economic backbone of the town since the turn of the century.

7.   Prized for its blubber, meat, oil and whalebone, the right whale provided the economic backbone for colonial Brazil.