The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service released its annual study measuring food security in the United States, Household Food Security in the United States, 2008.
The alarming results show that 1 in 6 Americans is food insecure. Even more shocking is that 1 in 4 children lives in a food-insecure household. Given the current state of the economy, it is going to take a while for these numbers to decrease.
Key highlights from the study:
In 2008, 49.1 million (16.4%) Americans lived in food insecure households compared to 36.2 million (12.2%) in 2007.
In 2008, 17.2 million (14.6%) American households are food insecure compared to 13 million (11.1%) in 2007.
In 2008, 8.3 million (21%) households with children are living in food insecure households compared to 6.2 million (15.8%) in 2007.
In 2008, 16.7 million (22.5%) children are living in food insecure households compared to 12.4 million (16.9%) in 2007.
In 2008, 2.3 million (8.1%) households with seniors were living in food insecure households compared to 1.8 million (6.5%) in 2007.
The number of individuals who are food insecure increased 36% over 2007 and the number of children increased 35% over 2007.
Comments about this story: