|
More than 36.2 Million Americans Struggled
Against Hunger in 2007 - Number in Worst-Off Households Rose 40 Percent
from 2000 to 2007
Courtesy F.R.A.C.
Washington, D.C. – November 17, 2008 – The Food Research
and Action Center (FRAC) announced today that the hunger and food
insecurity rates in the United States increased in 2007, according to
official data. More than 36.2 million people lived in households
struggling against hunger in 2007, compared to 35.5 million in 2006 and
33.2 million in 2000. The number of people in the worst-off category –
the hungriest Americans – has risen 40 percent since 2000, from 8.5
million to 11.9 million.
“In 2007, there were nearly three million more Americans
in food insecure households than when President Bush was elected. And
the 2008 food insecurity number almost certainly will be far worse,”
said Jim Weill, president of FRAC. “We need both Congress and President
Bush now, and President-elect Obama and the new Congress beginning in
January, to respond to this huge national problem.”
“Increased demand at food stamp and WIC offices, social
service agencies, and emergency food providers shows that growing
economic dislocation is overwhelming the nation’s first responders to
hunger. The nation urgently needs a boost in SNAP/Food Stamp benefits,
as has been recommended by economists from across the political
spectrum, both as a necessary support for low-income people and as the
best stimulus expenditure, dollar for dollar. And then Congress must
make further improvements in food stamps, school meals, and other
nutrition programs.”
These findings, along with two other reports that detail
the extent and impact of hunger across the nation, will be discussed at
“Hunger in America: An Agenda for the New President and Congress,” a
policy briefing hosted by FRAC this Wednesday, November 19. For event
details,
click here.
According to the USDA report:
- The 36.2 million people in food insecure households in 2007
includes 23.8 million adults (10.6 percent of all adults) and 12.4
million children (16.9 percent of all children).
- 11.9 million people lived in households that were considered to
have “very low food security,” a USDA term (previously denominated
“food insecure with hunger”) that means one or more people in the
household were hungry over the course of the year because of the
inability to afford enough food.
- This was up from 11.1 million in 2006 and 8.5 million in
2000. This increase in the number of people in the worst-off
category is consistent with other studies and the Census Bureau
poverty data, which show worsening conditions for the poorest
Americans.
- Black (22.2 percent) and Hispanic (20.1 percent) households
experienced food insecurity at far higher rates than the national
average.
- The ten states with the highest food insecurity rates in the
2005-2007 period were Mississippi (17.4 percent), New Mexico (15
percent), Texas (14.8 percent), Arkansas (14.4 percent), Maine (13.3
percent), South Carolina (13.1 percent), Georgia (13 percent),
Kansas (13 percent), Oklahoma (13 percent), and Missouri (12.9
percent).
Since 1995, the United States Department of Agriculture,
using data from surveys conducted annually by the Census Bureau, has
released estimates of the number of people in households that are food
insecure. Food insecure households are those that are not able to afford
an adequate diet at all times in the past 12 months. The report also
includes food insecurity rates for each state, but for states uses
three-year averages to give a better estimate of the number of
households experiencing food insecurity. Experts agree that the
Census/USDA measure of food insecurity is a conservative one, with the
result that only households experiencing substantial food insecurity are
so classified.
|
