Issue: To what extent are diets and eating patterns of

American children disrupted because their families cannot

always afford enough food? 

Background: Household food security—access at all

times to enough food for active, healthy living—is taken

for granted by most American children. However, some

parents do have difficulty at times getting enough food for

themselves and, more rarely, for their children. 

A nationally representative December 2001 food security

survey indicated that 16 percent of households with children were food insecure at some time during the year (fig.

1). “Food insecure” means that the household did not have

always have access to enough food for active, healthy living for all household members because they lacked money

or other resources for food. Most food-insecure households obtained enough food to avoid hunger, in some

cases by relying on a few basic foods and reducing variety

in their diets, participating in Federal food assistance programs, or getting emergency food from community food

pantries. But 3.8 percent were food insecure to the extent

that one or more adults in the household were hungry, at

least some time during the year, because they could not

afford enough food. (Hunger, as measured by this survey,

refers only to involuntary hunger that results from not

being able to afford enough food. Those hungry only

because they were dieting to lose weight, fasting for religious reasons, or just too busy to eat are excluded from

the count.)

This issue brief examines the extent to which children’s

eating patterns and food intake were affected by the food

insecurity of their families. 

Findings: Children—especially younger children—were

almost always shielded from hunger even in households

where adults were sometimes hungry because they lacked

money for food. Only 0.6 percent of households with children reported food access problems so severe that any

children in the household were hungry at any time during

the year. 

However, the prevalence of hunger among children does

not fully represent the extent to which children’s diets and

meals are disrupted by their families’ food insecurity.

Disruptions less severe than those resulting in hunger

among children occur with greater frequency. For example, among food-insecure households with children:

• 81 percent reported that at times during the year they

had relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed

their children because they were running out of money

to buy food, and 19 percent reported that this had

occurred often.

• 52 percent reported that at times they could not afford

to feed their children balanced meals.

• 25 percent reported that at times their children were not

eating enough because the family could not afford

enough food.

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Economic 

Research

Service

Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report Number 34-13 July 2003

WIC School

meals

CACPF General

Figure 1. Children in U.S. households are usually

shielded against hunger even when an adult in the

household is hungry

Source: Calculated by ERS based on data from Current Population Survey

Food Security Supplement, December 2001.

Food insecure: 16.1%

...without hunger: 12.4%

...with hunger among

 adults only: 3.2%

...with hunger among

 children and adults: 0.6%

Food Insecurity in

Households With Children

Food Assistance Research Brief

Mark Nord, marknord@ers.usda.gov, (202) 694-5433
2 Economic Research Service / USDA

Food Insecurity in Households With Children / FANRR-34-13

Food Security Is Linked to Income and Household

Composition

Food insecurity is, of course, strongly related to household

income. In 2001, food insecurity was 6 times more prevalent, and food insecurity with hunger among children was

14 times more prevalent, in households with annual

incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line than in

households with incomes above that range.1

Food security is also linked to household structure. In

2001, among households with children:

• 10.7 percent of those headed by a married couple were

food insecure and 0.3 percent were food insecure with

hunger among children.

• 31.9 percent of those headed by a single woman were

food insecure and 1.4 percent were food insecure with

hunger among children.

• 15.9 percent of those headed by a single man were food

insecure and 0.6 percent were food insecure with

hunger among children.

These differences resulted in part from income differences

associated with household structure, but even when the

effects of income are accounted for, single women with

children are more likely to be food insecure than married

couples or single men with children.

Food Security of Households with Children Improved

between 1995 and 2001

The prevalence of food insecurity among households with

children declined from 17.4 percent in 1995 to 14.8 percent in 1999, then rebounded to 16.1 percent in 2001. The

prevalence of hunger among children declined even more

sharply, falling from 1.1 percent of households in 1995 to

0.6 percent in 1999 and remaining at this level through 2001.

Declines in the prevalence rates of hunger among children

were substantial for some of the more food-insecure groups,

such as households headed by single women and by Blacks

and Hispanics. However, improvements in children’s food

security for these groups appears to have been dependent

on the strong economy of the late 1990s, and progress

slowed or reversed as the economy weakened in 2001. 

Consequences of Food Insecurity for Children

Good nutrition is important for children’s health and

development. Of course, food security does not guarantee

good nutrition, but it is difficult for families to prepare

healthy, nutritious meals for their children unless they

have consistent access to enough food. Food insecurity has

also been found to have deleterious effects on children’s

psychosocial development and learning, although research

into these relationships has so far established only their

general outlines.

Summary: Hunger among children is rare in U.S. households, even in households that are food insecure. However,

in most food-insecure households, children’s eating patterns are disrupted to some extent, and in about one out of

four food-insecure households, children’s food intake is

reduced because the household cannot afford enough food. 

Information Sources:

Nord, Mark, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson. 2002. Household

Food Security in the United States, 2001. FANNR-29. U.S. Department

of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Available at:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/foodsecurity

Nord, Mark and Gary Bickel. 2002. Measuring Children’s Food

Security in U.S. Households, 1995-99. FANRR-25. U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Available at:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/foodsecurity

ERS electronic briefing room, Food Security in the United States.

www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/foodsecurity

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SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Frequently Asked Questions about Food Security

What do food security and insecurity mean at the household level?

Food security means that all household members had access

at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food

insecurity means that a household had limited or uncertain

availability of food, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire

acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

We all get hungry now and then. What does hunger mean

in this brief?

The physiological phenomenon is the same, but hunger as

described in this brief is involuntary hunger that results from

not being able to afford enough food.

Where do we get information about food insecurity and

hunger in U.S. households?

Data for these statistics come from the Current Population

Survey (CPS), a nationally representative survey of about

50,000 households that also provides data for the Nation’s

monthly unemployment statistics and annual poverty rates.

Food security status is assessed by a series of 18 questions

that ask about behaviors and experiences known to characterize households that are having difficulty getting enough

food.

1 The Federal poverty line for a family of two adults and two children

in 2001 was $17,960.