One measure of the severity of poverty is the quantity and quality of an impoverished person's diet. Although few people would argue that hunger in America is at the level of a country such as North Korea or Somalia, there is debate over whether or not hunger is a serious problem in the United States.

Some people argue that hunger in the United States is a serious problem, especially for poor children. In January 1998, Christian Social Action magazine reported that over 34 million Americans are threatened by food insecurity, defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods." Of these Americans, 11.2 million experience food insecurity accompanied by moderate or severe hunger. A 1994 study by the Food Research and Action Center concluded that 5 million American children under the age of twelve go hungry each month. The...