Households and Persons Having Problems with Access to Food: 1995 to 1998 statistics

[100,445 represents 100,445,000. Food secure means that a household had access at all times to enough food for an active healthy life, with no need for recourse to emergency food sources or other extraordinary coping behaviors to meet their basic food needs. A food insecure household did not have this same access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times. Food insecure households with hunger were those with one or more household members who were hungry at least sometime during the period due to inadequate resources for food. The omission of homeless persons may be a cause of underreporting. Data are from the Food Security Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS); for details about the CPS, see text, Section 1, Population, and Appendix III]


Household		Number (1,000)				Percent distribution
food security level
	1995	1996	1997	1998	1995	1996	1997	1998

Households, total	100,445	101,508	102,373	103,480	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Food secure	90,097	90,964	93,459	92,972	89.7	89.6	91.3	89.8
Food insecure	10,348	10,544	8,914	10,509	10.3	10.4	8.7	10.2
Without hunger	6,402	6,407	5,760	6,820	6.4	6.3	5.6	6.6
With hunger	3,946	4,137	3,154	3,689	3.9	4.1	3.1	3.6

Adult members	191,063	193,608	195,180	197,423	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Food secure	172,862	175,003	179,420	178,631	90.5	90.4	91.9	90.5
Food insecure	18,200	18,606	15,761	18,792	9.5	9.6	8.1	9.5
Without hunger	11,611	11,582	10,601	12,657	6.1	6.0	5.4	6.4
With hunger	6,589	7,024	5,160	6,135	3.4	3.6	2.6	3.1

Child members	70,279	71,172	70,948	71,463	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Food secure	58,048	58,218	60,589	59,090	82.6	81.8	85.4	82.7
Food insecure	12,231	12,953	10,359	12,373	17.4	18.2	14.6	17.3
Without hunger	8,131	8,537	7,444	9,114	11.6	12.0	10.5	12.8
With hunger	4,100	4,416	2,915	3,259	5.8	6.2	4.1	4.6

Source: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Household Food Security in the United States, 1995-1998: Advance Report; July 1999 and Important User Information/ERRATA Tables 1 & 2D in Household Food Security in The United States 1995-1998 Advance Report; September 1999.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/

The Federal food security measure was developed through a collaborative process between private non-government experts, academic researchers, and a Federal interagency working group, with leadership from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. The severity of food insecurity and hunger in households is measured through a series of questions about experiences and behaviors known to characterize households that are having difficulty meeting basic food needs. These experiences and behaviors generally occur in an ordered sequence as the severity of food insecurity increases. As resources become more constrained, adults in typical households first worry about having enough food, then they stretch household resources and juggle other necessities, then decrease the quality and variety of household members diets, then decrease the frequency and quantity of adults food intake, and finally decrease the frequency and quantity of childrens food intake. All questions refer to the previous 12 months and include a qualifying phrase reminding respondents to report only those occurrences that resulted from inadequate financial resources. Restrictions to food intake due to dieting or busy schedules are excluded.

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/233_households_and_persons_having_problems_with.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.