The U.S.: The New Third World Country

It should be no surprise at all that our country, allegedly the wealthiest on earth, has a rise in child hunger. It shot up 50 percent in 2007. This isn't including the current economic mess, either.

"There's every reason to think the increases in the number of hungry people will be very, very large," Weill said, "based on the increased demand we're seeing this year at food stamp agencies, emergency kitchens, Women, Infants and Children clinics, really across the entire social service support structure."

The USDA study covered about 45,600 households, selected as representative of the approximately 118 million households in the US. Households were classified as being "food secure," having "low food security" or having "very low food security," according to their answers to a set of questions, including:

• In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn't eat, because there wasn't enough money for food?

• Did you or other adults in your household ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn't enough money for food?

Households with children up to 18 years of age were asked additional questions, such as:

• In the last 12 months, did you ever cut the size of any of the children's meals because there wasn't enough money for food?

• In the last 12 months, did any of the children ever skip a meal because there wasn't enough money for food?

Here is the USDA report:

Food insecure—At times during the year, these households were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. Food-insecure households include those with low food security and very low food security.

* 11.1 percent (13.0 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2007.
* Essentially unchanged from 10.9 percent in 2006.

Low food security—These food-insecure households obtained enough food to avoid substantially disrupting their eating patterns or reducing food intake by using a variety of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in Federal food assistance programs, or getting emergency food from community food pantries.

* 7.0 percent (8.3 million) of U.S. households had low food security in 2007.
* Essentially unchanged from 6.9 percent in 2006.

Very low food security—In these food-insecure households, normal eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake was reduced at times during the year because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. In previous reports, these households were described as “food insecure with hunger.” For a description of the change in food security labels, see “Definitions of Hunger and Food Security.”

* 4.1 percent (4.7 million) of U.S. households had very low food security at some time during 2007.
* Essentially unchanged from 4.0 percent in 2006.