On the Map: South and Midwest Hit Hardest by Rising Food Insecurity

Worsening economic conditions were accompanied by sizable increases in 2008 in the number of U.S. households experiencing food insecurity—defined as inadequate or unsure access to enough food for active healthy living. Regionally, increases were largest in the South and the Midwest, where an additional 2.8 and 1.7 million households, respectively, were food insecure in 2008, compared with 1999. In 2008, 15.9 percent of households in the South were food insecure, compared with 14.5 percent in the West, 14 percent in the Midwest, and 12.8 percent in the Northeast.