Hunger Awareness Facts

From the America’s Second Harvest

Ending Hunger

  • Pantries, homeless shelter and soup kitchens are serving 25.35 million annually.
  • 66% of households served have income below the federal poverty level.
  • 41% report having to choose between paying for food or paying for utilities or heating fuel.
  • 35% report having to choose between paying for food or paying for rent or mortgage.
  • 32% report having to choose between paying for food or paying for medicine or medical care.
  • 29% of households report having at least one household member in poor health.
  • 36% of the members of households served have children- 9 million children assisted annually.
  • 10% of served are elderly
  • 12% of the people served are homeless.

Hunger and Poverty Statistics

  • In 2005, 37 million people (12.6%) were in poverty.
  • In 2005, 7.7 million families were in poverty.
  • In 2005, 20.5 million (11.3%) of people aged 18-64 were in poverty.
  • In 2005, 12.9 million (17.8%) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.
  • In 2005, 3.6 million (10.1%) seniors 65 and older were in poverty, an increase from 3.5 million in 2004.
  • In 2004, 3.9 million children lived in low-income households where neither parent worked.
  • Food Is The Second Largest Expense For Families: Regardless of income level, food is the second largest average expense on a child for families, accounting for 15% to 20% of child-rearing expenses.
  • Each year, America's Second Harvest — The Nation’s Food Bank Network, the largest charitable hunger-relief organization in the United States, provides emergency food assistance to more than 25 million Americans—including 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.
  • Through more than 200 Member food banks and food-rescue organizations, the America’s Second Harvest Network secures and distributes food to nearly 50,000 local charitable agencies in all fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
  • Each week, approximately 4 million people receive emergency food assistance from an agency in the America's Second Harvest Network.
  • Clients seeking emergency food assistance from the America's Second Harvest Network are typically part of hard working families living below the federal poverty line and forced to make choices between food and everyday necessities.
  • Nearly 40 percent of the people the America's Second Harvest Network serves have at least one adult working; and nearly 70 percent of them are living below the federal poverty line.
  • The America's Second Harvest Network is reliant upon volunteers and faith-based organizations. More than 65 percent of food pantries and 40 percent of soup kitchens rely entirely on volunteers and have no paid staff.
  • The majority of pantries (75 percent), soup kitchens (65 percent) and many emergency shelters (45 percent) in the America's Second Harvest Network are affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations.