Why Hunger

Hunger In America

In America, over 46 million people live under the shadow of food insecurity. Hunger is a widespread issue all too often masked by pride, but its effects pervade all areas of life. Prolonged micronutrient deficiency leads to a weakened immune system, stunted growth, reduced cognitive ability, chronic disease, and even death.

Learn About How We Give

Who is hungry?

In America, over 50 million people live under the shadow of food insecurity. Hunger is a widespread issue all too often masked by pride, but its effects pervade all areas of life. Prolonged micronutrient deficiency leads to a weakened immune system, stunted growth, reduced cognitive ability, chronic disease, and even death.

Child Hunger

Senior Hunger

Veteran Hunger

The Hidden Hungry

Rural Hunger

Homelessness

"Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

The New Face of Hunger

POWERED BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Millions of working Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from. National Geographic sent three photographers to explore hunger in three very different parts of the United States, each giving different faces to the same statistic: One-sixth of Americans don’t have enough food to eat.

Osage, Iowa

On our nation’s richest lands, farmers grow corn and soybeans used to feed livestock, make cooking oil, and produce sweeteners. Yet one in eight Iowans often goes hungry, with children the most vulnerable to food insecurity.

Houston, Texas

Despite a strong economy, Houston is ringed by neighborhoods where many working families can’t afford groceries. Hunger has grown faster in America’s suburbs than in its cities over the past decade, creating a class of “SUV poor.”

Bronx, New York

Urban neighborhoods with pervasive unemployment and poverty are home to the hungriest. The South Bronx has the highest rate of food insecurity in the country, 37 percent, compared with 16.6 for New York City as a whole.

Want to read more stories about hunger in America?
We update our online publication, 'The Feed' daily with new stories.