“Between 2007 and 2013, average monthly participation in SNAP increased by 81 percent before beginning to decline in 2014,” FNS spokesperson said.
SNAP benefits are delivered monthly to eligible, low-income individuals and families and can be used to purchase groceries. The number of people receiving assistance increased greatly due to the depth and severity of the economic downturn, FNS said.
The Census Bureau statistics shows that 14.5 percent of 45.3 million Americans lived in poverty in 2013. California had the highest number of SNAP participants than any other state – 4.15 million, according to FNS.
“The people we serve have grown poorer. In 2013, nearly 22 percent of SNAP participants had no gross income and nearly 40 percent had no net income, about double the level in 2001,” FNS spokesperson said.
Since the beginning of 2013, unemployment rates have fallen slowly, but steadily, FNS spokesperson said. Combined with economic growth, this should reduce the number of people needing SNAP in future years.
In 2012 SNAP benefits lifted 7 million people out of poverty, including 3.1 million children and nearly 5 million people in households with earnings. These numbers have increased more than fourfold in the past 10 years, FNS pointed.
Nearly half of all SNAP participants are children, and 82 percent of all SNAP benefits go to vulnerable houses that include a child, elderly person, or disabled person, according to the Feeding America Foundation.
