How many starve in the us

Not only has the pandemic has left millions of families financially strapped and stretched to the limit as they juggle work and helping kids with remote learning, it has brought illness, loss and desperation to millions of families. Children are missing out on the social, emotional and academic fundamentals of childhood. Too many are experiencing hardships and trauma that will echo through their lives and communities for years to come.

In short, the pandemic has robbed kids of the normalcy that is essential to their healthy growth and development. By signing up to receive emails from Save the Children you will receive a subscription to our monthly eNews, access to breaking emergency alerts and opportunities to get involved. To ensure delivery of Save the Children emails to your inbox, add support savechildren.

Stories Child Hunger in America. Child hunger in America. But the heartbreaking reality is that today, one year after the COVID pandemic caused school closures and forced shutdowns, millions more children in America are struggling with hunger. Hungry students are more likely to Statistics about child hunger in America Today, there are an estimated 17 million children struggling with hunger in America — 6 million more than before the pandemic.

Compare and contrast the latest statistics for and across categories. The health and economic crises brought on by the COVID pandemic has made the federal nutrition programs more important than ever. Learn More. Read the Report. The report also underscores how the struggle to put food on the table would be far worse if not for federal nutrition programs. Find out more. Want to learn more about food insecurity in your state?

Scroll over your state to view the percent of households struggling with food insecurity or very low food security.

On September 14, , the U. Who is impacted by hunger? Despite an improving economy, millions of families still struggle with hunger in every community, and every state. Poverty, hunger, and food insecurity disproportionately affect Americans who have communicative, mental, or physical disabilities.

Certain jobless adults without dependents have time limits on their receipt of SNAP benefits despite their willingness to work. Hunger in America is a serious issue that requires a serious response. When there is talk about improving opportunities for all Americans through education, health care, and the economy, addressing hunger and poverty must be a part of that conversation. Children are better equipped to learn when they have the nutrition they need.

Yet too many low-income children who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals are not accessing them. More must be done to increase participation in school meals, summers meals, afterschool meals, and child care meals. Health care Research shows that food insecurity is linked with costly chronic diseases and unfavorable outcomes.

According to the Root Cause Coalition, the annual costs of hunger to the U. Greater investments in nutrition programs would go a long way in addressing obesity and other negative health outcomes faced by low-income Americans.

This number, though shockingly high for a country of such enormous wealth, had fallen in recent years, but the coronavirus pandemic put a huge burden on already-struggling families, and the impact of that is not yet fully known. One of the most effective way to help families and children is through federal nutrition programs.

These are critical lifelines for families in need. No Kid Hungry supports these important programs, though we focus our efforts on other federal programs that we know can make an enormous difference for hungry kids, such as the school breakfast program , the national summer meals program and the afterschool meals program.

Making breakfast part of the regular school day, just like lunch, has a powerful effect on kids. When schools serve breakfast after the morning bell rings, it means a lot more kids get a healthy start to their day. Millions of kids rely on school for regular meals.

But in the summer, those meals disappear. No Kid Hungry is helping community leaders with the funding and know-how they need to start summer meals sites, as well as advocating for needed changes to the national summer meals program.

Currently, the national summer meals programs reaches just 16 percent of the children who need help when school is out of session. For kids who rely on free meals at school, summer can be the hungriest time of year. This program is the newest federal child nutrition program, so No Kid Hungry is working to ensure that more kids, families and teachers know about it and are able to take advantage of it.

For too many children in America, school lunch may be the last healthy meal of the day. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program SNAP , sometimes known as food stamps, provides low-income families with money to purchase food each month.