Children living in households that experienced food insecurity : United States, 2019-2020

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ullmann, Heidi ; Weeks, Julie D. ; Madans, Jennifer H.
• Description:
  Data from the National Health Interview Survey
  
  • In 2019–2020, 10.8% of children aged 0–17 years lived in households that experienced food insecurity during the past 30 days.
  
  • The percentage of children who lived in food-insecure households was higher for non-Hispanic Black (18.8%) than Hispanic (15.7%) children, and higher for both non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children than for non-Hispanic White children (6.5%).
  
  • A greater percentage of children with disability (19.3%) lived in food-insecure households compared with children without disability (9.8%).
  
  • The percentage of children living in households that experienced food insecurity varied by urbanicity.
  
  • Family characteristics, such as family structure and the number of children in the household, were associated with household food insecurity.
  
  Food insecurity, which affects an estimated 15 million Americans (1), is the limited or uncertain availability of safe and nutritionally adequate foods, or the limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (2). Food insecurity has been consistently associated with poor health outcomes in children, including poorer overall health status, acute and chronic health problems, and limited healthcare access (3). This report describes the percentage of children aged 0-17 years living in food-insecure households during the past 30 days by selected sociodemographic and family characteristics using 2019-2020 National Health Interview Survey data.
  
  Suggested citation: Ullmann H, Weeks JD, Madans JH. Children living in households that experienced food insecurity: United States, 2019–2020. NCHS Data Brief, no 432. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:113966
  
  CS329252
  
  db432.pdf
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Key findings -- In 2019–2020, the percentage of children aged 0–17 years who lived in households that experienced food insecurity did not vary by the sex or age of the child. -- The percentage of children living in households that experienced food insecurity varied by race and Hispanic origin and disability status. -- The percentage of children living in food-insecure households varied by urbanicity. -- Family characteristics, such as family structure and the number of children in the household, were associated with household food insecurity.
• Series:
  NCHS Data Briefs
• Document Type:
  Journal Issue
• Name as Subject:
  National Health Interview Survey (U.S.) ; National Health Interview Survey (U.S.)
• Genre:
  Statistics
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• CIO:
  National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.)
• Pages in Document:
  7 Pages
• Issue:
  432
• Collection(s):
  National Center for Health Statistics
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e1114349f223b57b1e7e6f676c457114ac0efc5e60c05f60742f068149b051459d0fec89097731900b0924114007cd026511f04ca6e7dce8f1408e562e75d1f1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/113966/cdc_113966_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 464.26 KB ]