In 2013, 49.1 million Americans lived in food-insecure households

USDA measures food security status at the household level. Food-insecure households were, at times, unable to acquire adequate food for one or more household members because they had insufficient money and other resources for food. Statistics on the number of persons residing in food-insecure households should be interpreted carefully. Within a food-insecure household, different household members may have been affected differently by the household’s food insecurity. Some members—particularly young children—may have experienced only mild effects of food insecurity or none at all, while adults were more severely affected. In 2013, 49.1 million people lived in food-insecure households and 17.1 million of these individuals lived in households in the severe range of food insecurity, described as very low food security. Households with very low food security are those that were food insecure to the extent that eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and their food intake reduced at some during the year. The statistics for this chart are from Household Food Security in the United States in 2013: Statistical Supplement, AP-066, released on September 3, 2014.