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News :: Political-Economy |
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More U.S. Families Hungry Or Too Poor To Eat, Study Says |
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by Associated Press via rporter
Email: rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (verified) |
02 Nov 2003
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (AP) — Despite the nation's struggle with obesity, the Agriculture Department says, more and more American families are hungry or unsure whether they can afford to buy food.
About 12 million families last year worried that they did not have enough money for food, and 32 percent of them experienced someone's going hungry at one time or another, the agency said in a report released on Friday.
Nearly 3.8 million families were hungry last year to the point that someone in the household skipped meals because the family could not afford them. That is 8.6 percent more families than in 2001, when 3.5 million were hungry, and a 13 percent increase from 2000.
The report was based on a Census Bureau survey of 50,000 households. It was the third year in a row the department found an increase in the number of people who were hungry or uncertain whether they could afford their next meal.
The survey also found more families who were unsure if they could buy food or did not have enough food in their cupboards. Last year, 11 percent of 108 million families were in that situation. That is up 5 percent from 2001 and 8 percent from 2000.
Most poor families struggling with hunger tried to ensure that their children were fed, the report said. Nonetheless, one or more children in an estimated 265,000 families occasionally missed meals last year because the families either could not afford to eat or did not have enough food at home. The report estimated there were 567,000 hungry children in all.
Margaret Andrews, an economist with the agency and an author of the annual survey, said the prevalence of hunger and food insecurity is clearly tied to the poverty rate.
Ms Andrews noted that the latest estimates by the Census Bureau show that more people are poor. Some 34.6 million Americans were living in poverty last year, 1.7 million more than in 2001, according to the Census Bureau.
In the United States, 65 percent of adults and 13 percent of children are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Barbara Laraia, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said hunger and obesity could coexist because many hungry families buy high-calorie foods that are low in nutrients.
"They're dependent on foods that are going to make their bellies feel full, rather than on nutrients," Ms. Laraia said. "The diet is compromised."
Many families will spend their incomes on fixed expenses before buying food.
"Food is the most elastic part of the budget," Ms. Laraia said, "meaning that's what households will compromise on when they have fixed payments such as their rent and their utilities."
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