17.4 million US households suffer food insecurity: Report
That means 17.4 million US households, or 48 million Americans, experienced disrupted eating patterns at some time during last year, the US Department of Agriculture said in its annual food security report.
That percentage is 'essentially unchanged' from 2013, the USDA said, despite the fact that the economy improved overall during that time period.
Prior to the Great Recession in 2007, however, the annual percentage of households that were food insecure lingered around 11 percent, much lower than today's percentage.
In 2011, food insecurity peaked at nearly 15 percent of households.
"Set in the context of our economic recovery, [the numbers] are devastating," says Billy Shore, founder of anti-hunger nonproft Share Our Strength. "Wall Street has recovered. The auto industry has recovered. Hungry Americans are almost exactly where they were."
The report also underscored the wide racial gap in food insecurity.
While 10.5 percent of white household suffered from food insecurity last year, the figure was more than double for Latino households at 22.4 percent and 26.1 percent for African American households.
"This issue is still invisible to a lot of people," says Shore. He insists there’s no excuse for the country’s food shortage. The US is not a country that has "hunger because of war or famine,” he added.
Research shows that while modest improvements in food security have accompanied declining unemployment, other changes in the economy, including higher food prices, appear to offset the effect of unemployment declines.
Fri Sep 11, 2015 2:28PM
Low-income US residents select fresh produce at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey on August 28, 2015. (AFP photo)
In 2014, fourteen percent of US households struggled at some
time during the year providing enough food for all their members because
of a lack of financial or other resources, according to a new
government report.That means 17.4 million US households, or 48 million Americans, experienced disrupted eating patterns at some time during last year, the US Department of Agriculture said in its annual food security report.
That percentage is 'essentially unchanged' from 2013, the USDA said, despite the fact that the economy improved overall during that time period.
Prior to the Great Recession in 2007, however, the annual percentage of households that were food insecure lingered around 11 percent, much lower than today's percentage.
In 2011, food insecurity peaked at nearly 15 percent of households.
"Set in the context of our economic recovery, [the numbers] are devastating," says Billy Shore, founder of anti-hunger nonproft Share Our Strength. "Wall Street has recovered. The auto industry has recovered. Hungry Americans are almost exactly where they were."
The report also underscored the wide racial gap in food insecurity.
While 10.5 percent of white household suffered from food insecurity last year, the figure was more than double for Latino households at 22.4 percent and 26.1 percent for African American households.
"This issue is still invisible to a lot of people," says Shore. He insists there’s no excuse for the country’s food shortage. The US is not a country that has "hunger because of war or famine,” he added.
Research shows that while modest improvements in food security have accompanied declining unemployment, other changes in the economy, including higher food prices, appear to offset the effect of unemployment declines.