UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Survey: 18.2% in U.S. couldn't afford food

|
 
A meatpacker stocks meat bins at the King Soopers supermarket in Lakewood, Colorado on June 20, 2012. UPI/Gary C. Caskey
A meatpacker stocks meat bins at the King Soopers supermarket in Lakewood, Colorado on June 20, 2012. UPI/Gary C. Caskey 
License photo
Published: Aug. 21, 2012 at 3:28 PM

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- A survey released Tuesday indicated 18.2 percent of Americans can cite at least one instance in the past 12 months they could not afford to buy food.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which asked 177,662 U.S. adults in the first half of 2012 whether there have been times money to buy food for themselves or their families was unavailable, found Mississippi, Alabama and Delaware the states with the most severe situations. Mississippi, with 24.9 percent of the respondents answering yes, led the list.

The states with populations least likely to struggle to afford food were North Dakota, at 9.6 percent, followed by South Dakota and Vermont.

The results were based on telephone interviews, and had a maximum margin of sampling error of 0.3 percentage points.

© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional U.S. News Stories
1 of 18
Palestinian  Security Forces Patrol the Border With Egypt.
View Caption
A members of the Hamas security forces patrol the border area between Gaza and Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip May 20, 2013. Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again for four days, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travellers, As Tunnels between Egypt and Gaza closed and border was declared as military zone. Palestinian security forces patrol around the border, witnesses said. UPI/Ismael Mohamad
fark
From a new romance novel inspired by Michelle Bachmann: "He touched the void inside her, pollinating...
Hey, anyone want a free lighthouse?
Elizabeth Smart is awesome for many reasons. Most of all - telling Nancy Grace to STFU
Tornado Relief Photo Caption Contest; What is this relaxed survivor telling the Fire Fighters. Link...
Missing pregnant goat returned home after being found tied to a post alongside the road with sign...
Man kills self in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Tour guide not surprised, says he had a hunch back...