Hunger and Food Insecurity in the Fifty States: 1998-2000.

Noting that the persistence of hunger and food insecurity in the United States is an issue of pressing social and public health concern, this study examined the magnitude and severity of hunger and food insecurity in U.S. households in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data were obtained from the August 1998, April 1999, and September 2000 Food Security Supplements of the Current Population Survey, a survey of about 50,000 households at state and national levels. The full interviewed sample represents the total national and state-level non-institutionalized population. Among the major findings of the study were that over 11 million households containing more than 33 million individuals reported limited or uncertain access to sufficient food due to inadequate resources. Nearly 3.3 million households reported hunger. At the state level, food insecurity and hunger varied considerably during 1998 to 2000, with the prevalence of food insecurity ranging from a low of 7.5 percent of households in New Hampshire to a high of 15.9 percent in New Mexico. The national rate was 10.8 percent. A band of states running from the Pacific Northwest through the Gulf of Mexico continues to demonstrate higher than average food insecurity and hunger rates. California, Texas, and Florida accounted for nearly a third of all individuals living in food insecure households. (Data tables present state prevalence rates of food insecurity and hunger, number of food insecure and hungry households, number of individuals in food insecure and hungry households--adults and children, and estimated margins of error for numbers of individuals in food insecure and hungry households--adults and children). (KB)