Ellie Amador picks up a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farmers to Families food box as food is distributed at the nonprofit New Life Centers' food pantry in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. March 16, 2021.
The USDA report, which did not provide an explanation for the rise, found that 12.8% of households - equivalent to 17 million households - struggled to get enough food in 2022, up from 10.2%, or 13.5 million households, in 2021.
Nearly 7 million households faced very low food security, meaning members' normal eating patterns were disrupted or food intake dropped because of limited resources, USDA said.
More than 13 million children, or 18.5% of the country's child population, lived in food insecure households in 2022.
More than 27.6 million Americans reported experiencing food scarcity in the most recent survey, conducted between Sept. 20 and Oct. 2, up 9.5% from the start of the year.
Persons:
Ellie Amador, Daniel Acker, Tom Vilsack, Lisa Davis, Nell Menefee, Leah Douglas, Jonathan Oatis, Helen Popper Our
Organizations:
United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers, Centers, REUTERS, U.S . Department of Agriculture, . Census, USDA, Census, Children, WIC, National WIC Association, Thomson
Locations:
Chicago , Illinois, U.S, United States