Food Stamp Usage Continues To Swell in United States

According to the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, food stamp usage in the United States hit yet another all-time high in December of 2012.

According to the FNS, a total of 47,791,996 Americans utilized the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP") in December of 2012, up from 47,682,072 the month before.

The total cost to the US taxpayer of the program in December was $6,390,989,986. This works out to a total benefit per person of $133.73, and a total benefit per household of $277.09.

The total cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through the first three months of FY2013 has been $19.2 billion. At this pace, the program will pay out more than the $74.62 billion that it paid out in the 2012 fiscal year.

Usage of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program has increased by roughly 1.2 million Americans over the past year and by over 3.7 million people since December of 2010.

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The US population currently sits at around 313,914,040 people, which means that 15.22% of the US population used the food stamp program in December.

Source: FNS.USDA.gov - Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program

Filed under: General Knowledge