What Drives Hunger and Food Insecurity?
People who receive food assistance know the web of obstacles they face, from the cost of food to accessing other basic needs like affordable housing, public transportation, childcare, and medicine. Feeding America, the national network of food banks, identifies five general causes from its national research interviewing people who live with food insecurity.
- Income related factors: Having a low or unstable income makes it difficult to consistently purchase food. Job loss, inconsistent hours, disability, and unexpected life events such as illness that cause people to miss work can also impact food affordability.
- High costs of living: Massachusetts has one of the highest costs of living in the country. Necessities like housing, childcare, medication, transportation, and utilities mean that people’s food budgets are often the first to be cut.
- Community factors: Many communities, in both rural areas and cities, do not have healthy and affordable grocery options. This, paired with a lack of available, convenient, or safe transportation options to areas with full service grocery stores impact people’s access to food beyond just affordability.
- Health-related factors: Medical expenses, particularly health emergencies, often come with little warning and can quickly create financial emergencies. Routine care for chronic conditions can be costly, and food insecurity has negative impacts on chronic and nutrition-related diseases.
- Systemic barriers to opportunity: Discriminatory policies, past and present, cause measurable disparities in food security. Individuals and communities can be disproportionately impacted due to race, disability, gender, sexuality, and the inter-generational cycle of poverty.
Income-related factors are top of this list. There are many reasons why people lack sufficient income to sustain their own and their family’s well-being. Poverty is certainly one reason. However, even people and families who earn incomes above the federal poverty level cannot make ends meet. The MIT Living Wage calculator illustrates this fact despite media coverage regularly misrepresenting key economic indicators, as shown in this report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity.
The most recent data from Feeding America, “Identifying Racism in the Drivers of Food Insecurity,” shows how these causes are interrelated and disproportionately impact black and brown communities specifically in Western Massachusetts:
| Race/Ethnicity | Food Insecurity | % of Population | Poverty Rate | Unemployment Rate | Median Income | Home Ownership | Disability Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 9.6% | 100% | 13.6% | 6.1% | $64,843 | 64.7% | 15.1% |
| White (non-Hispanic) | 6.0% | 80.7% | 8.5% | 4.9% | $72,110 | 73.5% | 14.6% |
| Latino | 21.0% | 10.4% | 31.5% | 10.6% | $35,538 | 26.7% | 18.2% |
| Black | 23.0% | 4.9% | 24.4% | 11.3% | $45,362 | 39.6% | 17.6% |
| Asian | data unavailable | 3.0% | 12.5% | 6.1% | $65,734 | 54.9% | 8.1% |
| Native American | data unavailable | 0.5% | 19.7% | 10.9% | $46,974 | 42.8% | 27.9% |
| Pacific Islander | data unavailable | 0.1% | 5.7% | 0.0% | data unavailable | 96.0% | 7.6% |
Hunger is not just about a lack of food— it’s also about lack of access to nutritious food.
Nutrition and Hunger
People experiencing food insecurity and hunger are more likely to be malnourished due to limited access to lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.
Many low-income neighborhoods do not have full-service grocery stores with affordable, nutritious food within walking distance or in reach of public transit. This reality, combined with the abundance of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores with few nutritious food options, have a measurable negative impact on health and wellness.
A lack of nutritious food has long-term health consequences for children, including increased rates of impaired cognitive and brain development, lowered immune response, short stature, and obesity.
Similarly, studies show that malnourished elders experience more frequent and prolonged hospital stays, with a higher rate of complications.
In the United States, few people die from hunger and starvation alone. Rather, diets comprised of low nutrient-density foods (which tend to be higher in sugar and sodium and lower in protein, fiber, and vitamins) take their toll through higher rates of diet-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.