Hunger and Poverty in the United States

As America is the wealthiest and most bountiful nation in the world, it is no surprise that many Americans think of hunger and poverty occurring only in developing countries. While most Americans have encountered someone suffering from hunger and poverty in the United States, few of us may have actually realized it. The face of hunger and poverty in the United States is quite different from the images we often see in developing nations. Rather than outright starvation or homelessness, the face of hunger is a child who is malnourished because her parents do not earn enough to buy healthy food and sometimes has to skip meals. The face of a poor person in the United States is a single parent who works full time, but still can’t afford to pay for food, rent, child care, medical bills, and the costs of car to travel to work.
It is ironic that as the world’s wealthiest nation, hunger and poverty in the United States still persist. Evidence shows that millions of families and children live in poverty and experience hunger:
In August 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau released 2007 data on poverty, incomes and health insurance coverage. According to the Census press release, the number of people living in poverty was up about 800,000 (36.5 million in 2006, 37.3 million in 2007), but the official 2007 poverty rate of 12.5 percent was not statistically different from 2006. However, for children under 18, the poverty rate increased from 17.4 percent in 2006 to 18.0 percent in 2007.
Census data shows that many people did not share in the “economic recovery” that started in 2001. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from $10.1 trillion in 2001 to almost $14.1 trillion in 2007. Yet the poverty rate rose from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 12.5 percent in 2006 and 2007.
For state-by-state poverty data, see the Coalition on Human Needs page on using Census data. Scroll down to the Data and Resources section and the Useful Tools section.
In January 2008, Kids Count released state-level data for over 100 measures of child well being, including all the measures regularly used in their KIDS COUNT Data Book and their The Right Start for America’s Newborns.
The federal minimum wage was increased 70 cents in July 2008, the second of three steps to raise it from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour by 2009.
The Economic Policy Institute has found that without government assistance, the United States ranks among the top four countries with the highest rates of child poverty.
Real median household income in the United States climbed 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, reaching $50,233, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
About 47 million people (16 percent) were without health insurance coverage in 2006. This included about 9 million children. The number without insurance declined to 45.7 million (15.3 percent) in 2007. The drop was attributable to higher enrollment in government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
A current indication of hunger is participation in the Food Stamp Program. In May 2008, food stamp participation of about 28,400,000 persons was up over the prior May by more than 2 million people. Yet, according to Food Research and Action Center, the program may be missing as many as four in ten eligible people.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that the prevalence of food insecurity in 2006 was 10.9 percent of households compared to 11.0 percent in 2005. The prevalence of “very low food security” (formerly called “food insecurity with hunger”) in 2006 was 4.0 percent of households, little changed from 2005’s 3.9 percent. See USDA Briefing Rooms. Food insecurity remained higher than in 1999–2001.
Many factors contribute to the persistence of hunger and poverty in this nation, including low wages, lack of access to safety-net programs including child care and Food Stamps, inability to take advantage of most tax benefits aimed at middle- and upper-income households, and a lack of opportunity to accumulate savings and other assets.
Because of its persistence even in times of plenty, hunger and poverty can seem like an intractable problem. Yet hunger and poverty do not exist in the United States and around the world because there are not enough resources. The issue is one of priorities. As former Sen. Mark Hatfield once said, “We stand by as children starve by the millions because we lack the will to eliminate hunger. Yet we have found the will to develop missiles capable of flying over the polar cap and landing within a few hundred feet of their target. This is not innovation. It is a profound distortion of humanity’s purpose on earth.”
RESULTS has been working for more than 25 years to build the political will to end hunger and poverty in the United States. Its efforts have included strengthening the nation’s safety net programs, including the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Child Care Development Block Grant, Head Start, Food Stamps, and Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infant, and Children programs, as well as the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Child Tax Credit. Additionally, RESULTS advocates for innovative solutions to poverty, such as U.S. microenterprise and Individual Development Accounts. In December 2003, the National Anti-Hunger Organizations, including RESULTS, issued a Millennium Declaration to End Hunger in America, calling on “the president, Congress, and other elected leaders in states and cities to provide decisive leadership to end hunger in America.” This was followed by the Blueprint to End Hunger issued in June 2004; read our press release for more details

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