Hunger in the United States

One in seven households—over 49 million Americans—struggle to put food on the table, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its annual report Household Food Security in the United States, released on November 16, 2009.

The prevalence of hunger in a nation as wealthy as ours is shameful. Food insecurity has been persistent, hovering between 10 percent and 12 percent for the last decade. However, in 2008, hunger rose sharply due to the recession. The 3.5 percentage point increase between 2007 and 2008 is the biggest annual increase in food security since USDA began publishing the data. Almost 13 million more Americans fell into hunger in 2008, including 4.2 million children.

Hunger is more likely to impact children and minorities. Households with children are almost twice as likely to experience food insecurity, meaning that 16.7 million children – almost one in four – are at-risk of hunger. Similarly, Hispanic and African American households are roughly two and a half times as likely to be food insecure.

Strengthening federal nutrition programs—especially Child Nutrition Programs, which Congress must renew in 2010—is the fastest, most direct way to make progress against hunger in the United States.

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 Food Insecurity by State: Alphabetical and Ranked