BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A report by the the Quaker group Friends Committee on National Legislation ranked Alabama among both the poorest and hungriest states in the country.

The report, which came out last week, grouped Alabama with other states to be included as both among the poorest and the most hungry. Other states on the report included Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The report for the most hungry states came from data collected from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service’s 2018 report “Household Food Security in the United States.” In that report, 14.7% of Alabama’s population was not food secure.

For the poorest states, the report cited information from the 2018 U.S. Census Bureau survey, which stated that Alabama’s poverty rate was 16.8% as of the survey.

“There is much welcome news in the latest government data, but we cannot ignore the fact that hunger and poverty persist in our country. These decreases are important and they reaffirm the vital role federal anti-poverty programs play in ensuring low-income Americans can obtain the benefits that help meet our basic human needs,” said Diane Randall, executive secretary for FCNL, in a written statement. “As Quakers, we believe that no one in this country should be hungry and suffer from want.”

LATEST POSTS