In 2016, about 1 million Missourians were food insecure. In the past three years, that number has dropped to 865,000, or approximately 15% of the population.
These numbers were reported in the Hunger Atlas produced by MU’s Interdisciplinary Center for Food Insecurity. This year’s atlas is the fifth since the first edition in 2008.
The atlas uses data from Feeding America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create its tables for each county.
Food security is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.
To read more, visit our partners at the Columbia Missourian.