1/2

Lunch Around The World Hunger FactSheet Handout Pillar 4: Food Justice & Food Systems

Hunger Factsheet Statistics for the World, USA & Louisiana

World Hunger More than 925 million people suffer from chronic hunger. • The total world population is currently 6.92

billion people – that means over 10% of the world’s population is hungry. (Oxfam, 2010). 925 million people is more than the populations of the USA, Canada and the European Union combined. (UNFAO, 2010)

• More people die from hunger each year than from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. (Oxfam, 2010)

• Forty percent of the people on our planet—more than 2.5 billion—now live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. (Oxfam, 2010)

Hunger in the United States 49 million Americans are food insecure. Food insecurity means lacking the guarantee that you have the money and resources necessary to access and purchase food.

• Over 14% of households in the United States are food insecure. 5.7% of these households are very food insecure or experience hunger regularly (US ERS, 2009).

• 14% of households means that 49 million Americans don’t have dependable,

2/2

consistent access to enough food due to limited money and resources (Feeding America, 2011).

• Food insecurity in the United States has been increasing since 2007.

• Hunger affects certain Americans more than others. Some types of households have food-insecurity rates far above the national level of 14.6 percent. 42.2 percent of households with incomes below the poverty line were food insecure. About 37.2 percent of households with children, headed by a single parent were food insecure. About 25.7 percent of black households were food insecure. And 26.9 percent of Hispanic households were food insecure (Teaching Tolerance, 2009).

Hunger in Louisiana 1 out of every 8 people in Louisiana experiences hunger (Second Harvest, 2011).

• 11% of households (181,000 households) in Louisiana are food insecure (USDA/ERS, 2008)

• 44 percent of all client households served by Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana reported having to choose between buying food and paying for utilities or heat within the previous 12 months. More than one-third (34 percent) of client households reported having to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage. Almost one-half (47 percent) of client households reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care (Hunger in America, 2006).

Why Does Hunger Exist? “Hunger is not about too many people and too little food. Our rich and bountiful planet produces enough food to feed every woman, man, and child on earth. Hunger is about power. Its roots lie in inequalities in access to resources. The results are illiteracy, poverty, war, and the inability of families to grow or buy food.” Oxfam, 2010.