A family's ability to provide for its children's nutritional needs is linked to the family's food security—that is, to its access at all times to adequate food for an active, healthy life for all household members.¹ The food security status of households is based on self-reported difficulty in obtaining enough food, reduced food intake, reduced diet quality, and anxiety about an adequate food supply.

In some households classified as food insecure, only adults' diets and food intakes were affected, but in a majority of such households, children's eating patterns were also disrupted to some extent, and the quality and variety of their diets were adversely affected.² In households classified as having very low food security among children—a subset of food-insecure households—a parent or guardian reported that at some time during the year, one or more children were hungry, skipped a meal, or did not eat for a whole day because the household could not afford enough food.^{3, 4}

Indicator ECON2 Percentage of children ages 0–17 living in food-insecure households by poverty status, 2007–2023

• In 2023, 19% of children ages 0–17 (13.8 million children) lived in households classified as food insecure. The prevalence of food insecurity among households with children was not significantly different from the prevalence in 2022.
• The prevalence of food insecurity among households with children has consistently been highest for households with annual incomes below the official poverty threshold, followed by households with incomes at 100%–199% of the poverty threshold and households with incomes at or above 200% of the poverty threshold. In 2023, 46% of children in households with incomes below 100% of the poverty threshold lived in food-insecure households (well above the national average of 19%). Meanwhile, 9% of children in households with incomes at or above 200% of the poverty threshold lived in food-insecure households (well below the national average).
• In 2023, the percentages of children living in food-insecure households were above the national average of 19% for those whose parents or guardians were Black, non-Hispanic (27%); those whose parents or guardians were Hispanic (27%); those whose parents or guardians did not have a high school diploma or GED certificate (35%); those whose parents' or guardians' highest level of education was high school diploma or a GED certificate (33%); those whose parents' or guardians' highest level of education was some college (25%); those who lived with a single mother (38%); those who lived with a single father (25%); and those who lived in the South (22%).
• In 2023, the percentages of children living in food-insecure households were below the national average of 19% for those whose parents or guardians were White, non-Hispanic (14%); those whose parents' or guardians' highest level of education was a bachelor's degree or higher (9%); those whose parents or guardians were married (12%); and those who lived in the Midwest (17%).

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