According to a 2022 USDA report, 44 million people in the U.S., including 13.4 million children, are food insecure. Globally, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that at least 690 million people are chronically hungry. This tragedy is not because of a shortage of food, it is because of persistent poverty and governments’ unwillingness to address the problem in a meaningful way. Fortunately, people are working for both immediate and long-term change in the US and around the world.
Published: 12/06/18, Last updated: 1/22/24
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food security as “access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.” 7 Black and Hispanic households have rates of food insecurity that are nearly twice the national average, and households headed by single mothers have more than twice the national average. 8
There are serious risks to immediate and long-term health for both children and adults associated with food insecurity. Children face increased risks of some birth defects, anemia, asthma and higher rates of hospitalization. Hungry kids can have problems in school and socially, as they have higher rates of cognitive problems, aggression and anxiety. Food insecurity in adults is correlated with increased rates of mental health problems, diabetes, hypertension, poor sleep and overall poor health. 11
Today, food insecurity is not only associated with hunger; somewhat paradoxically, it often correlates with obesity as well. This does not mean that the two are necessarily causally linked. Both food insecurity and obesity are the consequences of poverty and a lack of access to nutritious food. Low-income neighborhoods often lack grocery stores or other markets that carry a wide range of healthy foods and instead have a high prevalence of convenience stores and fast food restaurants. People living in poverty are less likely to have reliable transportation for shopping. Healthy foods tend to be more expensive than highly processed foods that are filling but have low nutritional value. As an added obstacle, when fresh produce is available in low-income areas, it is often of poor quality, making it less appealing to purchase.
Opportunities for physical activity can be limited in low-income communities, which often lack parks, playgrounds or even sidewalks, and the stress of the financial and emotional pressures of poverty has been linked to obesity. 13
Individuals become food insecure for any number of complex reasons, but the root cause is nearly always poverty. Environmental crises and a wide variety of political factors also contribute to hunger and food insecurity in the US and around the world.
With more than 37 million people in the U.S. below the official poverty line, poverty is the single largest cause of food insecurity.14People living in poverty are often juggling low wages, job insecurity, inadequate childcare and little free time, among other factors. There are often few options for healthy food where they live, and their income may run out before the next paycheck, leaving them without sufficient food to get through the week.
Additionally, in a terrible irony, the vast majority of people who grow, pick and process our food live in poverty and cannot afford to buy adequate healthy food. Eighty-six percent of jobs in the food system offer very low wages near or below the poverty level. 18
In the US, people have lost their homes, crops and livelihoods and have been displaced from their communities by hurricanes, floods and wildfires that are more frequent and more devastating as a result of a changing climate. 20 Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen, who witnessed a similar Indian famine in 1943 as a child, succinctly summarized the problem in his case study of that famine: “Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat.” 22
Somewhat similarly, the primary crops grown in the U.S. are no longer food crops but are commodity grains used to feed animals or converted to ethanol or food additives. U.S. farm policy supports the production of a steady stream of these crops to benefit corporate agribusiness, not the production of healthy, affordable food for people. This policy encourages vast overproduction, and, to find a market for the excess, we ship commodities abroad. U.S. grain exporters sell U.S. crops to other countries for less than they cost to produce in those other countries (a practice called “dumping”), which undercuts the local agricultural economy and drives small farmers into poverty and hunger. 25
These programs are critically important because they help families, children, new mothers, seniors and others meet their food needs, but the nutritional quality of this food has not always been high. Fortunately, in recent years, communities and advocates have made great strides in improving the quality of food available through these programs. New nutrition standards for the National School Lunch program phased in since 2012 are having a positive impact on students’ nutrition, while farm to school programs, which are in 42 percent of U.S. schools, can further improve consumption of healthier foods at school. 303137
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