Food insecurity on the rise in Delaware

May 15, 2024

Feeding America released its annual Map the Meal Gap study today, showing a sharp increase in the number of food insecure Delawareans in 2022.

These numbers are a clear indicator of what we have been seeing on the ground – more people are turning to us for food help.

Map the Meal Gap is the only study that provides local-level estimates of food insecurity and food costs for every county and congressional district in the U.S. The study builds upon the USDA’s latest report of national and state data, which showed a sharp increase in food insecurity in 2022 amid historically high food prices and the expiration of many pandemic-era programs.

In 2022, here in Delaware:

125,370 individuals were food insecure – 1 in 8 Delawareans (12.6% of the population)
40,620 children were food insecure – 1 in 5 Delaware children (19.7% of the population)

County breakdown of food insecurity

New Castle County
12% of the population was food insecure (68,260 individuals)
18.3% of the child population was food insecure (22,280 kids)

Kent County
13.7% of the population was food insecure (25,060 individuals)
22.9% of the child population was food insecure (9,540 kids)

Sussex County
13.3% of the population was food insecure (32,050 individuals)
20.2% of the population was food insecure (8,800 kids)

The insights from this year’s study confirm what we hear from people facing hunger: elevated food prices are making hunger in Delaware worse.

With your help, we can provide Delawareans with the food they need to thrive. Join us in our fight against hunger by clicking here.

To view the Map the Meal Gap study, click here.