Food Stamps Usage on the Rise - 10% of the USA

Overseas newspapers and websites can be a great way to learn about America and what other countries think about America. In a previous article about USA negative and positive feelings we talked about America being seen as less favorable than North Korea.

This week British Newspaper The Independant wrote about the fact that Food Stamp usage is on the rise in America and has just peaked to an all time high of 28 million. This seemed like a lot but I was having a hard time getting a hold on that number. Until I tried to figure out what percentage that is, it is about 10% because the USA population is almost to 300 million.

So one out of ten Americans seem to be on Food Stamps.

In some areas it is worse, such as hard hit Michigan. They have lost significant manufacturing jobs in the last years. It seems about 12% of Michigan is on Food Stamps.

It is difficult to make longtime comparisons with eras like the Great Depression as Food Stamps were not available then.