USDA Releases New Food Insecurity Data

    Eighty-eight percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2004, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.  The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year.  The prevalence of food insecurity rose from 11.2 percent of households in 2003 to 11.9 percent in2004, and the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger rose from 3.5 percent to 3.9 percent.

    This report, based on data from the December 2004 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs.  Survey responses indicate that the typical food-secure household in the United States spent 31 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food assistance programs during the month prior to the survey.  About 20 percent of food-insecure households—3.5 percent of all U.S. households—obtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year.

• Nationally the number of individuals living in food insecure households increased by 2 million from 2003 to 2004

• At 15.8% New Mexico ranks second behind Texas in food insecurity in the nation.

• With 4.9% New Mexico ranks fourth in the nation in food insecurity with hunger.

• On a typical day, there are between 614,000 and 854,000 households in the nation in which one or more members were hungry because the household could not afford enough food.

• On a typical day, hunger among children occurred in 41,000 to 50,000 households in the nation.

• Food insecurity is substantially higher for households headed by single women with children, households with incomes below the federal poverty line, and for African American and Hispanic households.

• Low-income single mothers with children are especially vulnerable to both food insecurity and hunger.

• In two thirds of the households experiencing hunger, the condition was recurring, experienced in 3 or more months of the year.

• In 30 percent of the households experiencing hunger, the condition occurred almost every month.

• Most households experiencing hunger experienced the condition in 1 to 7 days of the month.

• Households with children reported food insecurity at about double the rate for households without children.

• Adults in the household usually shield children from the worst effects of hunger by going without food themselves so that the little they have can go to their children.

• One of the principal ways that families cope with food insecurity and hunger is to visit food pantries and soup kitchens like the hundreds of hunger relief agencies served by Roadrunner Food Bank.