3.5M Kids Under 5 On Verge Of Going Hungry

Normally this headline would have been generally associated with a thrid-world country in Asia, Africa.. no big deal right, not exactly.. it is quite shocking to find that this is recent statistic for US.

The not-for-profit advocacy group Feeding America based its findings on 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department. The study, released Thursday, May 7, 2009 is the first to look at these numbers for children under the age of 5, according to the group.

The study also shows that in 11 states, more than 20 percent of children under 5 are at risk of going hungry. Louisiana has the highest rate, with just under a quarter of children at risk, followed by North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arkansas.

According to the Agriculture Department, 11 percent of households lacked enough food for an active, healthy life, before the economy worsened late last year.

The U.S. study coincides with a U.N. statement claiming, the number of hungry people in the world could soon hit a record 1 billion, despite a recent drop in food prices.