10 States Where The Most People Go Hungry
The Hungriest States
There are at least ten states in which 6 percent or more of population experiences very low food security. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “In households with very low food security, the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food.” Alarmingly, the report concludes that food insecurity is the highest it has been since the USDA began tracking the statistics in 1995.
The states where hunger is more prevalent than the national average are also often states in which a high percentage of the people live below the poverty line. Poor people also eat cheaper, less nutritious food which may lead them to have higher incidences of obesity and additional health problems.
24/7 Wall St. looked at the figures on people who have what the Department of Agriculture calls “low security” or “very low security households.”
Unlike very low security households, low security households are ”food-insecure households [that] obtained enough food to avoid substantially disrupting their eating patterns or reducing food intake by using a variety of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in Federal food assistance programs, or getting emergency food from community food pantries.” They also examined data on unemployment, the percentage of the population living below the poverty line, obesity and median household income.
Many Americans do not eat well or do not eat often enough to remain healthy, and there seems to be no concrete reason for it. The problem predates the recent economic downturn.
This is the 24/7 Wall St. examination of the states where hunger is the largest problem in the country and includes data reflecting how hunger has a relationship to other socio-economic factors for each state.
Is your state among the hungriest? Read on to find out.
(AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
The states where hunger is more prevalent than the national average are also often states in which a high percentage of the people live below the poverty line. Poor people also eat cheaper, less nutritious food which may lead them to have higher incidences of obesity and additional health problems.
24/7 Wall St. looked at the figures on people who have what the Department of Agriculture calls “low security” or “very low security households.”
Unlike very low security households, low security households are ”food-insecure households [that] obtained enough food to avoid substantially disrupting their eating patterns or reducing food intake by using a variety of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in Federal food assistance programs, or getting emergency food from community food pantries.” They also examined data on unemployment, the percentage of the population living below the poverty line, obesity and median household income.
Many Americans do not eat well or do not eat often enough to remain healthy, and there seems to be no concrete reason for it. The problem predates the recent economic downturn.
This is the 24/7 Wall St. examination of the states where hunger is the largest problem in the country and includes data reflecting how hunger has a relationship to other socio-economic factors for each state.
Is your state among the hungriest? Read on to find out.
(AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
