Today, Millions More Children in America Are Struggling with Hunger
One child struggling with hunger is one too many. But the heartbreaking reality is that today, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are struggling with hunger.
Tell Congress to make big investments in federal child nutrition support and keep kids fed by visiting our political advocacy arm – Save the Children Action Network – and sending a message to Congress.
No child can be hungry for knowledge if they’re hungry for food
Studies have shown that hunger can negatively impact children’s academic performance and behavior in school, preventing them from developing to their full potential. Many studies have shown that hungry children have a hard time learning.
Hungry students are more likely to...
have less energy
be more easily distracted and less interested in schoolwork
have lower math scores
repeat a grade
come to school late or miss school entirely
Statistics about child hunger in America
Today, there are an estimated 12 million children struggling with hunger in America. While nearly every state has pockets of great disadvantage, these states struggle with child hunger the most:
- Food scarcity is highest in Louisiana, where 25% of families with children struggle with hunger
- In Arkansas, 23% of families with children struggle with hunger
- Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C. all report a 22% rate of family hunger
- In Maryland, Hispanic and Black families are almost 4 times as likely to face hunger as white families
- Hispanic families are similarly disadvantaged in New York, where 38% do not have enough food, compared to 11% of white families
Child hunger in America has hit the poorest families the hardest
Ramon, Olga and their young children have endured multiple hardships. The couple both had COVID. Olga lost her father to the disease. And it’s been hard to pay bills and afford food.
Across the nation, the poorest families are upwards of 15 times as likely as the wealthiest to be hungry. In California, estimates suggest all of the wealthiest families have enough to eat, but half of the poorest do not.
For one California family specifically, food became both too expensive and too unavailable in June 2020 as COVID outbreaks began to spread rapidly across agricultural communities in the Central Valley.
“It was a struggle to find household items and food at the markets,” said Olga, a seasonal farmworker who works full-time and did not qualify for unemployment benefits or stimulus payments when both she and her husband tested positive for COVID. They got by with the help of Olga’s sisters, who left boxes of food on their doorstep.
Once their quarantine was lifted, waiting in long food pantry drive-through lines became the family’s normal way of getting the food they needed. Often they had to travel to neighboring towns.
COVID has been a horrific disruptor to child hunger in America
7-year-old Kenzlie gets her temperature taken upon entering her school in Eastern Tennessee. Kenzlie is on a modified schedule due to COVID-19 and only attends school two days a week.
Every child deserves a bright future, yet COVID has been a horrific disruptor to progress around reducing child hunger in America.
With 30 million children in the U.S. depending on school for meals, school closures and loss of family income mean food insecurity rates will rise.
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.
Urgent action is needed to ensure all America’s children can reach their full potential.
*Read the full Childhood Report: Childhood in the Time of COVID here.
Our child nutrition and hunger advocacy efforts in America
Save the Children's domestic, child nutrition advocacy efforts aim to improve access of nutritious foods to children and families across the country, with a specific focus on rural communities. We work with Congressional offices, federal agencies, the White House, and partners in both the public and private sectors.
Our advocacy efforts draw on scientific, and programmatic evidence from Save the Children’s long-standing work on food insecurity and aims to end hunger for all children in the U.S.
Our advocacy efforts include:
- Protecting and strengthening child nutrition program benefits to support the nutritional needs of all children across America
- Appropriately funding programs, like WIC, so all eligible families can participate with adequate benefits
- Easing enrollment requirements so eligible families can apply without difficulty
- Supporting childcare programs and schools so they can serve nutritious food to children
- Preserving families’ dignity when shopping with nutrition assistance benefits
- Allowing program flexibilities for communities that face unique challenges, like transportation issues in rural communities or when natural disasters occur
- Improving program efficiencies for families and administrative purposes
For more on child nutrition and hunger advocacy, visit Save the Children's political advocacy arm, Save the Children Action Network (SCAN).