Arkansas Ranks 24th in National Hunger Study

Arkansas and Kentucky have tied for 24th in a study that measures the percentage of the households that regularly experience hunger.

Arkansas and Hawaii tied for 16th in the percentage of households that experience “food insecurity,” or not knowing how they will get their next meal.

The study titled “Hunger and Food Insecurity in the 50 States” was released Aug. 15 by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., but it was based on data collected by the federal government from 1998-2000.

The study found that 3.2 percent of Arkansas households regularly experience the physical symptoms of hunger, slightly below the national average of 3.27 percent.

In the study, a finding that “perplexed” the researchers was that the highest rates of active hunger were reported in Oregon (6.2 percent of households) and Washington state (5.03 percent). Next was New Mexico, with 4.57 percent. The lowest rates of hunger were in North Dakota (1.93 percent), Iowa (2 percent) and Missouri (2.03 percent).

Arkansas’ percentage of households designated as “food insecure” was 11.7, significantly above the national average of 10.77 percent.

The states with the highest levels of food insecurity were New Mexico (15.87 percent), Texas (14.87 percent) and Oregon (14.33 percent).