Food security is especially important for children because their nutrition affects not only their current health, but also their future health and well-being. Previous studies that used various data sources suggest that children in food-insecure households face elevated risks of health and development problems, compared with children in otherwise…

Eighty-four percent of U.S. households with children were food secure throughout 2007, meaning that they had consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives for all household members. Nearly 16 percent of households with children were food insecure sometime during the year, including 8.3 percent in which children were food insecure…

The prevalence of hunger in rural households declined slightly from 1995 to 1998, and food insecurity rates stayed constant. Food insecurity was almost three times as prevalent among rural Blacks as among rural Whites. For rural Hispanics, the rate was about twice that of Whites. Food insecurity was higher in single-parent families than in any…

A new national survey found similar 1995 rates in rural and urban households for food insecurity (12%), hunger (4%), and severe hunger (0.8%). Single-parent families, minority groups, and households in the South and West had higher rates of food insecurity and hunger. However, the number of hungry children was difficult to estimate. (Author/SV)

Food insecurity is more prevalent in the rural South than in metropolitan areas of the South and rural areas in other regions. This reflects the lower incomes and higher poverty rates in the rural South. On the other hand, the prevalence of poverty-linked hunger--the most severe range of food insecurity--is about the same in the rural South as in…