Knowing how often and how long households are food insecure is important for understanding the extent and character of food insecurity and for maximizing the effectiveness of programs aimed at alleviating it. Food-insecure households don’t have enough money or other resources at times during the year to acquire adequate food. From 2008 to 2011, between 14.5% and 14.9% of American households experienced food insecurity. But, were these mostly the same households year after year? Or, was food insecurity usually a transient condition?
To answer these questions, USDA’s Economic Research Service commissioned two studies that examined patterns of food insecurity in households over periods of 5 years or more. Both studies found spells of food insecurity to be generally of short duration. Both studies found about 16.9% of households were food insecure in at least 1 year. About half of those households were food insecure in only a single year, and only 1% were food insecure in all 5 years. In both studies, very low food security, the severe range marked by food intake below levels considered appropriate, was even more likely to be transient.
Source: USDA, 6/3/13, Food Insecurity
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