Report: One in Six Children in the U.S. Are Hungry

A new report (pdf) released last week by Feeding America claims that one in six young children (those who are five-years-old and younger) in 26 U.S. states face a constant threat of food insecurity. That adds up to 3.5 million young children in this country who do not have adequate access to healthy food.

The statistics in the report—Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2005 – 2007—were compiled using data collected by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).

Perhaps an even more disturbing statistic is that the rate of food insecurity in young children is 33 percent higher than the rate experienced by U.S. adults, where only one in eight live at risk of hunger. I personally find it deeply troubling that there are so many hungry children in this country who don’t have the ability to provide for themselves.

The rate of hunger in all children (those 18-years-old and younger) has also drastically increased in recent years when compared to USDA data compiled between 2003 and 2005.

Although USDA ERS releases a report each year detailing food insecurity across the nation, this Feeding America report is the first ever to look at child hunger on a state-by-state basis. The organization hired John Cook, PhD from the Boston Medical Center to conduct the state based analysis.

Here are some interesting and disturbing trends from the state-by-state report:

-In terms of young children, Louisiana has the highest rate (24.2) of food insecurity in the country followed by North Carolina (24.1), Ohio (23.8), Kentucky (23.3), Texas (23.3), New Mexico (23.3), Kansas (20.9), South Carolina (20.7), Tennessee (20.4), Idaho (20.2), and Arkansas (20).

-For all children, Texas leads the nation (22.1) in rate of food insecurity followed by Mississippi (21.5), the District of Columbia (21.4), Tennessee (20.5), Arizona (20.2), South Carolina (20.2), Louisiana (20) and Missouri (20).

-Doing a quick regional analysis myself, it seems as though New England does the best job of ensuring its children have access to healthy food. All of the states in the region have rates of food insecurity under 20 percent with only Maine and Vermont having rates higher than 15 percent.

Besides the fact that it is every persons basic human right to have access to healthy food, there are many long-term health consequences to food insecurity, especially in the early years of life. As the report's lead researcher notes: 

The first three years of life are the most critical period of brain growth and development. Child hunger causes physical and mental impairment that may never be reversed. Child hunger also creates tremendous costs that are completely unavoidable. There is no better investment in a prosperous future than investing in ending childhood hunger.

I've talked in the past about the need to expand the federal WIC program and other food assistance programs to meet the growing need of the country's hungry families.  This report shows that these actions are needed now, not years down the road.  As the country continues to feel the pains of our worst recession since the Great Depression, the number of hungry children is likely to continue to grow in the months and years ahead.

Now that the tragedy of childhood hunger has been documented in each state throughout the nation, there is no time to waste.  While donating time, funding and food to hunger relief organizations is a fantastic short-term way to solve this problem, we need federal and state policies in place that will provide an adequate safety net to all of the nation's children.

(Photo credit: babasteve on Flickr)