Total WIC participation increased for a third year in FY 2024

USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental food packages, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals at no cost to low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants younger than 1 year old, and children 1−5 years old who are at nutritional risk. More than half of WIC participants are children (55.3 percent), followed by women (22.6) and infants (22.2 percent). Total participation in WIC increased for the first time in more than a decade in fiscal year (FY) 2022, and this increase continued through FY 2023 and into FY 2024. Participation averaged 6.70 million people a month in FY 2024, a 2-percent increase from 6.58 million in FY 2023. This was the third consecutive increase in overall participation since the record-high 9.18 million in FY 2010 and resulted from increased numbers of participants in all three groups (women, infants, and children). The numbers of women and children participating in WIC each increased by 2 percent and the number of infants participating increased by 1 percent from FY 2023. This chart appears on the USDA, Economic Research Service’s WIC Program topic page, updated July 2025.