An estimated 12.3 percent of U.S. households were food insecure in 2016, essentially unchanged from 12.7 percent in 2015, the USDA Economic Research Service said. But the figures still mean that more than 41 million Americans, or 15.6 million households, don’t get enough food.
The USDA said the rate was down from a high of 14.9 percent in 2011, in the midst of the most recent recession. This year’s figure was still above the 2007 pre-recession level of 11.1 percent, according to the report, “Household Food Security in the United States in 2016.”
Last year, 4.9 percent of the population also suffered from what’s called “very low food security,” meaning that “food intake of some household members was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year due to limited resources. Children were food insecure at times during the year in 8.0 percent of U.S. households with children (3.1 million households),” the report said.
“While children are usually shielded from the disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake that characterize very low food security, in 2016 both children and adults experienced instances of very low food security in 0.8 percent of households with children (298,000 households).”
In response to the report, the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) noted that the 2016 rate of 12.3 percent was “considerably higher than the low point of 10.1 percent in 1999. Indeed, 10 million more people lived in food-insecure households in 2016 than in 1999, and 5 million more than in 2007.”
FRAC also noted that the food insecurity rate worsened for black, non-Hispanic households from 2015 to 2016, while improving for Hispanic and white, non-Hispanic households.