Posted on May 16, 2011

10 States That Rely the Most on Food Stamps: USDA

Harry Bradford, Huffington Post, May 13, 2011

Of all the disastrous consequences of the economic crisis, perhaps the most devastating is the idea of even more Americans struggling to feed their families.

Recent statistics from the USDA indicate that 14.2 percent of the U.S. population was using food stamps in February 2011, or around 44.2 million total, up from 33 million just two years before in 2009.

In 2006, the year before the financial crisis, 26.5 million people participated in the program, officially titled the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

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States with smaller populations participate in food stamp programs most often, particularly in the South, where as many as 20 percent of the population is found to use food stamps.