Feeding America claims, that one in six US Americans struggles with hunger.
- Is that claim true?
- Is the definition of "hunger" they use similar to the one when talking about hunger for example in sub-Saharan Africa?
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Sign up to join this communityFeeding America claims, that one in six US Americans struggles with hunger.
In a US Department of Agriculture survey for the report Household Food Security in the United States in 2013 , people were asked the following questions (plus additional questions if they had children):
Based upon answers to the questions:
85.7 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2013. In concept, “food secure” means that all household members had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life
The remaining 14.3 percent (17.5 million households) were food insecure at some time during the year. That is, they were, at times, unable to acquire adequate food for one or more household members because they had insufficient money and other resources for food. A majority of food-insecure households avoided substantial reductions or disruptions in food intake, in many cases by relying on a few basic foods and reducing variety in their diets.
5.6 percent (6.8 million households) had very low food security—that is, they were food insecure to the extent that eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and their food intake reduced, at least some time during the year, because they could not afford enough food.
Note:
Prior to 2006, households with low food security were described as “food insecure without hunger” and households with very low food security were described as “food insecure with hunger.”
So if the criterion is that one or more persons in ones household had to at least reduce the variety of food they eat, 1 in 7 people struggle with hunger in the USA.
If the stricter criterion that one or more persons in ones household had to actually reduce their food intake, it is more like 1 in 18.