35.5 Million Americans Going Hungry

US programs failed to make a dent in the number of Americans going hungry last year, and activists warned that rising costs and stagnant wages threaten to increase the army of citizens struggling to put food on the table. Nearly 13 percent of households—35.5 million Americans, with 12.6 of them children—went hungry last year, up slightly from the previous year.

Households headed by single women faired the worst. Food advocacy groups said the US was not doing enough to fight hunger, and feared conditions are worsening. "As costs for food, energy and housing continue to rise and wages stagnate or decline, households are finding themselves increasingly strapped," said the president of the Food Research and Action Center. (More hunger stories.)