Facts and Stats

Here’s a snapshot of compelling facts on hunger and poverty in Georgia and the U.S., as well as information on how the Atlanta Community Food Bank is helping to meet the need. 

If you would like a more extensive listing of facts and stats, email info@acfb.org and we’ll be glad to send that to you.

Hunger and Poverty in Georgia

• More than one in every four Georgia children under age 18 lives in a food insecure household – 27.9% of our children (Feeding America, Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011. Data released Aug. 2011 )

• Nearly 1.7 million Georgians (17.9%) are living in poverty according to the latest US Census Bureau American Community Survey report released in September 2011. This is up from 1.6 million (16.5%) in 2009, and represents an increase of 100,000 people in poverty. (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Profile. 2010. Data released Sept. 2011)

• 10.7 percent - more than one in every ten senior citizens in Georgia – lives in poverty.  (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Profile, 2010. Data released Sept. 2011) 

• The need has increased dramatically in recent years.  For the past two consecutive years, the Atlanta Community Food Bank has distributed over 30% more food and grocery products than in the prior year to its 700 partner agencies. (Atlanta Community Food Bank. 2012)

• To further reinforce the intensity of this increased need, all you need to do is take a look at the increase in the number of Georgia households receiving food stamps.  Over the past three years, that number has jumped by 57%.  (Georgia DHR, 2011)  

Hunger and Poverty on a National Scope

• For the third consecutive year, USDA reported that 1 in every 6 Americans is food insecure - 48.8 million Americans. The USDA defines food insecurity as the lack of access to adequate food resulting from the lack of money and other resources. (USDA, Household Food Security in the United States, 2010. Data released September, 2011) 

• 46.2 million Americans (15.1%) were reported as living in poverty in 2011 – up by 3.3 million from the prior year. (U.S. Census Bureau American Communities Survey Profile 2010. Data released September, 2011)

• Over 17 million U.S. children live in food insecure households. (Feeding America, Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011. Data released Aug. 2011) 

• Nearly 4 million young children (ages 5 and under) in the U.S. are food insecure.  They lack enough food for a healthy, active life during a critical time for their brains and bodies to grow and develop. (Feeding America, Child Food Insecurity in the U.S. 2006-2008, and John Cook, Ph.D., Boston Medical Center and Boston university School of Medicine. 2010)

• The number of children living in poverty in the U.S. jumped from 20.7% to 22% from 2009 to 2010 – that’s a total of more than 16 million kids and represents an increase of almost a million kids in just one year. (U.S. Census Bureau – Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S. 2010) 

How the Atlanta Community Food Bank Helps:

• The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) is one of more than 200 food banks that are members of Feeding America (formerly named America’s Second Harvest), the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. (Atlanta Community Food Bank. 2012)

• ACFB distributes over 30 million pounds of food and grocery products annually to a network of 700 partner agencies across 38 Metro Atlanta and North Georgia counties. (Atlanta Community Food Bank. 2012)

• ACFB is able to distribute $8.47 worth of grocery products back into the community for every $1.00 donated. (Atlanta Community Food Bank. 2012)

• 94 cents of every dollar donated to ACFB (including the value of all donated food) goes directly to services in the community to help fight hunger. (Atlanta Community Food Bank. 2012)

• In fiscal year 2010-2011, volunteers served 98,711 hours in support of ACFB and its projects. The hours served by volunteers from July 2010 – June 2011 equates to the number of hours served by 45 full time staff members in a year.  (Atlanta Community Food Bank. 2012)