Food [In]Security in America |

Nutritional facts, trends and prevalence of food insecurity in the United States.

Food [In]Security in America

What is food insecurity? Households who are uncertain of having or are unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food are experiencing food insecurity.

Nutrition Facts: Food Security in America

14.6% (17.1 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2008. This is an increase from 11.1% in 2007.  Concurrently, 100 million U.S. households were food secure in 2008, which is a decrease from 109 million in 2007.  Another way of looking at this statistic is that in 2008, 85.4% of U.S. households were food secure while 5.7% had very low food security and another 8.9% had low food security.

The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably among household types in 2008. Some groups with rates of food insecurity that were much higher than the national average (14.6%) were households with incomes below the official poverty line ($21,834 for a family of four), of whom the 42.2% had food insecurity. Among households with children, headed by a single woman, 37.2% experienced food insecurity in 2008. 25.7% of black households suffered from food insecurity in 2008 while 26.9% of Latino households the same issue.

The trends in prevalence rates of food insecurity in U.S. households from 1995 to 2008 have been calculated by USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) from data in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement.

After the numbers were adjusted for comparability for the years1995 to 2000, the number of households experiencing food insecurity in 1995 was 10.3%, and the number with very low food security was 3.9%. In 1996, 10.40% of U.S. Households had food insecurity while 4.10% were experiencing very low food security. The number of households experiencing food insecurity in 1997 was 8.70%, and the number with very low food security was 3.10%. In 1998, 10.10% of U.S. households had food insecurity while 3.51% were experiencing very low food security.

The same data set was analyzed without adjustment for the years 1998 through 2008 and indicated these findings: The number of households experiencing food insecurity in 1998 was 11.79%, and the number with very low food security was 3.71%. In 1999, 10.06% of U.S. households had food insecurity while 2.97 were experiencing very low food security. The number of households experiencing food insecurity in 2000 was 10.47%, and the number with very low food security was 3.13%. In 2001, 10.69% of U.S. households had food insecurity while 3.26% were experiencing very low food security.

The number of households experiencing food insecurity in 2002 was 11.10%, and the number with very low food security was 3.50%. In 2003, 11.21% of U.S. households had food insecurity while 3.49 were experiencing very low food security. The number of households experiencing food insecurity in 2004 was 11.95%, and the number with very low food security was 3.94%. In 2005, 11.00% of U.S. households had food insecurity while 3.87% were experiencing very low food security. In 2006 the numbers remained very similar with 10.94 percent of U.S. households having food insecurity while the number of households with very low food security was 3.99%. In 2007, 11.10% of U.S. households experienced food insecurity, and the number of households with very low food security increased to 4.10%. 2008 brought the worst levels yet with 14.60% of U.S. households experiencing food insecurity, and 5.7% of all U.S. households at a very low food security level.

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