The number of people facing hunger in the U.S. declined last year to the lowest since 2007 as unemployment fell and some states strengthened child-nutrition programs.
About 41.2 million people were “food insecure” in 2016, meaning that at some point in the year their ability to obtain adequate food was in question, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an annual study. That represents a 2.4 percent decline from 2015. Hunger was most prevalent in Mississippi, with 19 percent of households affected, while Hawaii’s rate of 8.7 percent was the lowest in the nation.
“Food insecurity increased substantially with the recession,” Alisha Coleman-Jensen, the report’s lead author, said in a conference call after the report was released. Along with falling unemployment, low levels of food inflation have also eased hunger in the U.S., she said. “We’re continuing the downward trend.”
Unemployment falls
U.S. unemployment was 4.4 percent in August, half a percentage point lower than a year earlier, as joblessness has gradually declined throughout the decade. Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps, has also dropped. About 42.3 million people received benefits in February, the most recent month of data available. That’s the lowest since July 2010.
