700 thousand children hunger in US

New government figures show that almost 700,000 children went hungry in the United States at some point in 2007, up more than 50 percent from the year before.

And that's even before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.

The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than double the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.

Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.

Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000.  The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security."

Source: АМИ-ТАСС