In today’s day and age, it is hard to think that a family in the U.S is deprived of food. The wealth distribution though very apparent has yet made us ignorant of the facts of our society. Food insecurity is much more prevalent than you would believe. Thirty-seven million people in the U.S faced food insecurity before the pandemic hit us in 2020. Can you imagine that after all those eras of unemployment during Covid-19, to what extent has that number increased?
The question arises, why does America even have such a high percentage of food insecurity. The issue is that hunger is related to low wealth and poverty. Thirty-eight million people in America are living a life of poverty. It is not because they are unemployed but because there are several reasons that the system is failing them.
Multiple factors are involved in such a disaster the educational system, poverty, costly healthcare system, high taxes, racism in different areas of life, and more.
In a study done in 2020, it was found that other than children and old adults, the most impacted by food insecurities are people of color like Latinos or African American communities.
Such communities find it hard to meet ends because they are marginalized in such cultures and environments, holding them from educational and job opportunities. Thus, it is unfair that such communities are set up for failure.
A poor socio-economic background is a stepping stone to failure in America because people are as good as perceived. People from low-income backgrounds can barely keep up with the high education and health costs, let alone generate extra income to go up the ladder.
Even a middle-class family in America is likely to experience food insecurity several times a year because of high living costs. It is improbable that after paying taxes, mortgages or rents, health insurance, education bills, and utilities, they will be able to put decent food on the table.
However, the lifestyle depends from place to place; for instance, in California and New York, houses are significantly higher in price and utilities than in other states. Those are hot spots with a high market value for a low-quality life. Thus, food insecurity varies throughout the country.
Other factors are involved, such as how many people are earning in a family and how many children or seniors are dependent on the family’s earning members.
A study from 2020 showed that 35% of food-insecure homes were houses where single mothers were the bread earners; hence, the pressure of there being only one earning member in the family for children who have many expenses can also make the household fall below the poverty line.
However, after the recession in 2011, food insecurity has been declining from its all-time high, and due to covid, many programs assisted with providing food to the least fortunate. Several non-profit programs went out of their way to eradicate this issue.
Reference
USDA (2020). Food Security and Nutrition Assistance. Economic Research Service U.S Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-security-and-nutrition-assistance/#:~:text=The%20prevalence%20of%20food%20insecurity,had%20very%20low%20food%20security.