News Briefs: Growing hungry

Published December 2009 Vol. 13 Issue 11

Fifty million people struggled for food in 2008, or one out of every six people according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This included 16.7 million children. Among household types, several stood out at rates above the national average of 14.6 percent. Families living below the poverty line had a 42 percent rate of food insecurity; single mother households had 37.2 percent; and Hispanic households and Black households had just over a 25 percent rate of food insecurity. Food security has only been tracked since 1995, when rates were around 10.3 percent and had a slow rise to 11.1 percent by 2007. They have spiked in the last year.  As households struggle with the effects of the recession, those who experience hunger are expected to continue to rise. Colorado’s rate was 11.6 percent. The state with the lowest rate was South Dakota at 6.9 percent and the highest was Mississippi at 17.4 percent.