One in seven Americans lives on food stamps
August 5th, 2011 - 10:06 am ICT by IANSWashington, Aug 5 (IANS) Believe it or not, one in seven Americans - 15 percent of the country - now need government-provided food stamps simply to survive, according to latest government figures.
Nearly 46 million Americans receive food stamps out of a population of some 311 million people, the US Department of Agriculture, which administers what’s officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme reported Thursday.
The continued high unemployment and the weak US economy have contributed to the explosive growth of the food stamp programme with no end in sight to the monthly increases, CNN said noting that 27 million people were dependent on food stamps in October 2007.
Under the food stamps programme, an eligible individual gets $200 a month in food stamps - in the form of a debit card that can be used at supermarkets and stores to buy authorised food.
A two-person household gets $367 a month. A three-person household gets $526 a month. And a four-person household gets $668 a month.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
- One in seven US households faced hunger in 2009 - Nov 16, 2010
- New measure raises American poor to 49 million - Nov 08, 2011
- Clinton ready to step off `high wire' of politics (Lead) - Jan 27, 2012
- One in five Italian families lives in poverty - Jul 16, 2011
- Food stamp record stands at 40.8 million Americans for the month of May - Aug 05, 2010
- Indian American creating crowd-sourced film on Egyptian revolution - Feb 25, 2011
- Record Number of Illinois Families on Food Stamps - Aug 06, 2010
- British food items not to show 'best before' date any more - Apr 18, 2011
- IAEA sends two more teams to Japan to assist with nuclear emergency - Mar 26, 2011
- `Initial plans for Mumbai attack involved only two fidayeen' - May 21, 2011
- Half of US children will use food stamps: study - Nov 03, 2009
- Pain of cash payments helps shoppers avoid junk food - Oct 20, 2010
- Vikram Pandit: 'Occupy Wall Street' sentiments understandable - Oct 13, 2011
- Social Security in America About To Become Paperless From May 2011 - Dec 22, 2010
- Wells Fargo to charge $3 fee per month for debit cards - Aug 17, 2011
Tags: arun kumar, cnn, debit card, department of agriculture, economy, explosive growth, food stamp, food stamps, government figures, nutrition assistance, person household, population, supermarkets, supplemental nutrition, unemployment, us department of agriculture