With the economy improving little from 2008 to 2009, it’s not surprising that the problem with hunger in America saw little progress as well. A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that nearly 15% of U.S. households last year had trouble getting enough to eat at times. The 2009 total (14.7%, or 17.4 million homes) was just a tick higher than that in 2008, when it was 14.6%.

 

Of this group, 6.8 million households (or 5.7% of all those in the country) experienced “very low food security,” defined as a situation where food intake is reduced and normal eating patterns are disrupted due to lack of money. Again, the number of Americans enduring this problem was unchanged from 2008.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Summary: Household Food Security in the United States, 2009 (Economic Research Service) (pdf)

Household Food Security in the United States, 2009 (by Mark Nord, Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Margaret Andrews and Steven Carlson, Economic Research Service) (pdf)

Americans Having Trouble Meeting Food Needs: Highest Rate Ever Recorded (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)