Hunger in the U.S.: Progress and Challenges
Here are key points from a page titled “Food Insecurity Rates Continue Downward Trend, but Remain Higher than Pre-Recession Levels,” on Bread for the World’s website - https://bread.org/library/fact-sheet-hunger-numbers
*In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal. While the number of food insecure households is still too high, it has been declining since the post-recession high of 14.9 percent in 2011.
Unfortunately, the overall food insecurity rate has not recovered to pre-recession levels. In 2007, 11.1 percent of U.S. households experienced food insecurity, compared to 11.8 percent in 2017. At the rate of decrease we saw this year, the United States would not end hunger until 2040.
All the nations of the world have agreed on development goals for 2030, including the goal of ending hunger. To end hunger by 2030, our country needs to see the same decreases it saw from 2014 to 2015, when the rate of food insecurity declined at a statistically significant rate of 1.3 percent. Ending hunger by 2030 will require strong political commitment and a comprehensive approach to address hunger’s root causes and accelerate progress.
Hunger among U.S. children
In September, 2017, Feeding America issued a Child Hunger Fact Sheet with the following points –
In the United State today, nearly 13 million children face hunger. While hunger is harmful to everyone, it can be especially devastating to children because of its potential for long-term consequences.
Good nutrition, particularly in the first three years of life, is important for establishing a solid foundation that has implications for a child’s future physical and mental health, academic achievement and economic productivity. Hunger threatens this critical foundation, which in turn, threatens a child’s opportunity to thrive. Below are a series of facts regarding child hunger in the United States.
- 12.9 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2016
- Twenty percent or more of children in 22 states and DC lived in food-insecure households in 2015.
For the latest Fact Sheets from Feeding America on hunger among children, teens, seniors, Latinos, African Americans, those living in rural settings and others, visit Hunger in America.
Hunger on U.S. Campuses
In early 2019, Dr. Harriet Giles presented summary information about hunger on U.S. campuses.
She drew extensively from 2018 U. S. Government report on College Student Food Insecurity (https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696254.pdf) as well from follow-up articles about the report (see https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/univesity/gao-hunger-on-college-campuses/ and http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/01/college-student-hunger/579877/)
Here’s a key point from her presentation:
The GAO report examined 31 studies on campuses and found a range of between 9% to over 50% of food insecurity among students, with 22 of the studies reporting rates over 30% on individual campuses. For example, the University of California System reports rates of over 40% on most, if not all, of their campuses.