The Numbers on Food Insecurity and Hunger
A new brief from the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project features 12 facts on food insecurity in the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other nutrition assistance programs. The brief notes that in 2014, nearly one in five households with children were food-insecure, meaning that they had difficulty at some point during the year providing enough food for all family members due to a lack of resources. Federal, state, and local nutrition assistance programs help lift millions of families out of poverty, and SNAP in particular addresses deep poverty and improves households’ financial well-being, according to the brief.