Nearly 20 Percent of Families Report Food Hardship

April 2, 2010

Families Struggle to Afford Food, Survey Finds

The New York Times, January 26, 2010

In a report released by the Food Research and Action Center, nearly one in five Americans responded “yes” to the question: “Have there been times in the last month when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?” These data come from a survey conducted by Gallup, which has interviewed 1,000 people nearly every day over the past two years.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture releases an annual survey of “food insecurity,” asking 18 “nuanced questions” about the number of times people skipped meals, cut portions, or worried about running out of food. With more than 500,000 respondents, the Gallup survey provides a sample size large enough to provide data on the nation’s 435 Congressional districts and Washington, D.C. The recent report found that 15 percent or more of those surveyed in 45 states and in 311 Congressional districts said they lacked money within the past twelve months to buy sufficient food. Read more…

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