Educated people are best able to break out of the cycle of poverty that causes hunger . A 1995 study by Tufts University estimates that 20 to 30 million Americans are too poor to meet their monthly expenses and buy enough food to live healthy, productive lives. In 1994 the Urban Institute in Washington DC estimated that one out of 6 elderly people in the U.S. has an inadequate diet. The problem, in fact, is not a lack of money, but a series of decisions on how money gets spent. Enough money is available to end worse case poverty in a few years and enough food to provide everyone in the world with a minimally nutritious diet right now.
Young children are more likely to be poor than any other age group, and that disparity is growing.
The poverty rate for children under age three was well over double the rate for adults or the elderly in 1995. Young children in the United States have about a 50-50 chance of escaping the risks of poverty or near poverty. The problem of young child poverty extends far beyond the stereotypical image of the poor minority child in an urban setting. The fact that nearly half of all young children live in poverty or near poverty demonstrates that young child poverty is a mainstream problem, affecting children from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, from all types of residential areas, and from all regions of the United States. The rate of poverty for children under age three living in suburban areas grew by 61 percent between the late 1970s and early 1990s, whereas the rates of poverty for children in the same age group in urban and rural areas rose by 37 and 47 percent respectively.