15% of U.S. Households Faced Food Shortages in 2009

More than 17.4 million U.S. households—about 15 percent of all households—struggled to put enough food on their tables in 2009 because they lacked money or other resources for food, according to the USDA’s recently released “Food Security in the United States 2009" report. The report also noted that one in eight U.S. households at least one person did not get enough to eat at some time during the year and normal eating patterns were disrupted.

Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were essentially unchanged from 14.6 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, in 2008, and remained at the highest recorded levels since 1995, when the first national food security survey was conducted.

According to the report, federal nutrition assistance programs have seen dramatic participation growth, with major programs at or near record levels. In fact, 57 percent of food-insecure households in the survey reported that they had participated in one or more of the three largest federal nutrition assistance programs within the past month.

Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average among households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line, among households with children headed by single parents, and among black and Hispanic households.

The typical food-secure household spent 33 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition.

Sources:

* USDA: Household Food Security in the United States, 2009