About

Annual Hunger Report

The Institute publishes a book-length Hunger Report every year. Each edition focuses on a particular topic and its relationship to the root causes of hunger and malnutrition. Recommendations for policy change based on the report’s analysis guide Bread for the World’s advocacy. The Hunger Report has been published annually since 1975.

The 2018 Hunger Report, The Jobs Challenge outlines recommendations to improve job opportunities and wages. The report offers Congress a menu of policies that would improve job opportunities for low-income workers, and argues that improving job opportunities is crucial to overcoming hunger and poverty.

The report’s recommendations include investing in the country’s infrastructure (with a focus on broadband access in rural communities and public transportation in cities); increasing the minimum wage; criminal justice reform that would mean fewer people in prison and more people in the job market; and immigration reform that would allow undocumented immigrants to move into better jobs and contribute more to our economy.

"Wages have been stagnant for decades – meaning that workers are earning less, inequality is rising, and families can’t make ends meet," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "Fortunately, Congress can take steps to improve job opportunities. Some of the recommendations in this report already have bipartisan support and could become law in the next Congress."

Past Reports

The 2017 Hunger Report, Fragile Environments, Resilient Communities, explains how state fragility stands in the way of ending hunger and extreme poverty. Fragile states are countries where high rates of hunger and poverty are compounded by civil conflict, poor governance, and vulnerability to climate change.

The 2016 Hunger Report, The Nourishing Effect: Ending Hunger, Improving Health, Reducing Inequality, explores the connections among hunger, food insecurity, and health problems in the United States.

The 2015 Hunger Report, When Women Flourish … We Can End Hunger, examines the links between global women’s empowerment and ending hunger and malnutrition. One cannot be achieved without the other. Gender equality depends on strengthening women’s bargaining power, reducing their burden of unpaid work, and building a collective voice in public life.

The 2014 report, Ending Hunger in America, provides a detailed, four-part plan to end hunger in the U.S.

Other resources

The Institute also produces briefing papers, fact sheets, and infographics. All resources are designed for an audience of policymakers and activists.

Areas of focus

The Institute’s current analysis and advocacy areas include:

• global hunger and poverty
• U.S. hunger and poverty
• U.S. populations most impacted by hunger
• U.S. international development assistance
• global sustainable development goals
• maternal / child nutrition
• food security and smallholder agriculture
• immigration

Laying the Groundwork for Advocacy

Solving a complex problem such as hunger requires a clear understanding of the impact of specific policies and how policies affect each other. The Institute’s nonpartisan analysis and identification of action steps help strengthen Bread as a trusted voice in national life.