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Comment by Scubabear68 | Hacker News Reader

"Not all households are as dysfunctional as the ones you described".

This comment of course needs to be taken in the context of HN. In the wider world, we have literal tens of millions of people in the United States who are in poverty and experience daily hunger and deprivation.

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We do not have tens of millions of hungry people unless you're including being a bit peckish before lunch time.

USDA says that 13.7% of US households experienced food insecurity in 2024 [0]. Extrapolate that against population and you get 47 million people.

[0]: https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/fo...

EDIT since I can't reply to irish-coffee for some reason: nobody said literally starving, OP said experiencing hunger or deprivation.

> Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain access to enough safe, affordable, and nutritious food to live a healthy life. It means people do not know where their next meal will come from or cannot buy enough healthy food because they lack money or other resources

Pretty big gap between literal starving and food insecurity.

Pretty big gap in quality of life between people who have no worries about their next meal and those who have to stress over every one.

If you make $2000 and your rent is $1800 are you food insecure or rent insecure?

This is a miscategorization imo, food is incredibly cheap compared to any American income or welfare program.

My comment didn’t really portray what I’m getting at. Food insecurity is obviously an indicator for financial confidence. I know people can afford food, on top of the fact they will choose to pay for it because they have to. I know people who have chosen to eat and fall behind on rent. The point is, if you’re worried about your meals, you’re not living the rest of your life with confidence. It’s not something to be brushed aside.

I agree, it should not get brushed aside. Food insecurity is used as a mask for actual problems. It’s atrocious.

You have to read their definitions. The broad 13.7% category includes everyone who was uncertain about being able to afford food.

You have to drill down to "very low food security" to reach the point where someone reports having reduced their food intake, which is a 5.4% number.

Still higher than I'd like! But it's not 47 million people.

That's correct, it's 18.5 million people, which is in the tens of millions

Food insecurity is a bullshit category we invented because actual hunger is basically solved. Yes, it's (obviously) a much bigger category.

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