The latest government report (Sept. 2010) on hunger tells us that 17.2 million U.S. households were “food insecure” in 2010, affecting 48.8 million Americans, or 1 in 7 Americans. This is the highest level on record for hunger in the U.S..
The definition of “food insecurity”, via WorldHunger.org, emphasis mine:
- The median [a type of average] food-secure household spent 27 percent more on food than the median food-insecure household of the same size and household composition (Coleman-Jensen 2011, p. vi)..
- Background: The United States changed the name of its definitions in 2006 that eliminated references to hunger, keeping various categories of food insecurity. This did not represent a change in what was measured. Very low food insecurity (described as food insecurity with hunger prior to 2006) means that, at times during the year, the food intake of household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for food. This means that people were hungry ( in the sense of "the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food" [Oxford English Dictionary 1971] for days each year (Nord 2009 p. iii-iv.).
