what is food insecurity?
Food insecurity: is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.
Key Points To Know:
- In 2020, 13.8 million households were food insecure at some time during the year.
- Food insecurity may be long term or temporary. It may be influenced by a number of factors, including income, employment, race/ethnicity, and disability.
- The risk for food insecurity increases when money to buy food is limited or not available.
- Unemployment can also negatively affect a household’s food security status. Disabled adults may be at a higher risk for food insecurity due to limited employment opportunities and health care-related expenses that reduce the income available to buy food.
- Racial and ethnic disparities exist related to food insecurity. In 2020, Black non-Hispanic households were over 2 times more likely to be food insecure than the national average (21.7 percent versus 10.5 percent, respectively). Potential factors influencing these disparities may include neighborhood conditions, physical access to food, and lack of transportation.