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Five Facts on Hunger in New York City

1. 1.2 million New Yorkers will turn to soup kitchens or food pantries this year for some or all of their meals, including 348,000 children and 144,000 elderly.**
2. Of these 1.2 million New Yorkers:
   • 34% must choose between paying for food or paying for utilities or heating fuel.
   • 34% must choose between paying for food or paying their rent or mortgage bill.
   • 22% must choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.
   • 30% are in poor health.
3. During the most recent three year time period (2003-2005), an average of 1,256,000 of the city's residents - one in six - lived in households that could not afford to purchase an adequate supply of food, according to USDA data calculated by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.*
4. According to the most comprehensive annual survey of local hunger, the number of people served by the city's charitable food pantries and soup kitchens rose by an estimated 11% in 2006, on top of an estimated 6% increase from 2004-2005.*
5. The fastest growing population using pantries and kitchens is families whose parents are working at or near minimum wage salaries.*

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