Across America, 84% of the counties where the most children struggle with hunger are rural and high poverty. Among the more than 2,600 counties examined, counties that ranked the lowest overall (in the bottom 50) are mostly rural, poor, concentrated in the south and are communities of color.
The highest food insecurity rate in the nation is in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, where 40% of children struggle with hunger. This is comparable to child food insecurity rates in Bangladesh and Peru, and higher than the rates in Egypt and Mali. Slope County, North Dakota has the lowest child hunger rate in the country – 6%.
To compare food insecurity rates by county, visit our U.S Childhood Report Comparison Tool.
[i] Feeding America. Map the Meal Gap 2019: A Report on County and Congressional District Food
[ii] 2020 U.S. Complement to the Global Childhood Report
[iii] The Brookings Institute
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