By Bob Katzen

QUOTABLE QUOTES – By the Numbers Edition: An analysis of USDA data compiled by “A Hunger Free America” concluded that food insecurity in the United State is on the rise due to the expiration of federal benefits that were subsidizing nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some of the numbers:

363,433.
—Number of Massachusetts residents living in food insecure households between September 2021 and October 2021

535,920.
—Number of Massachusetts residents living in food insecure households between September 2023 and October 2023. A 47.5 percent increase over 2021.

Delaware (21.4 percent), Nebraska (21 percent), Texas (20.7 percent), Georgia (20 percent), Kentucky (19.7 percent) and Louisiana (19.7 percent).
—The six states with the highest rates of food insecure children.

New Hampshire (6.1 percent), Minnesota (7.3 percent), Vermont (7.7 percent), Colorado (8.4 percent)
and North Dakota (8.6 percent).
—The states with the lowest rates of food insecurity overall.

9.1 percent.
—Percentage of Bay State residents who lived in food insecure households between 2020 and 2022.

11.9 percent.
—Nationwide percentage of who lived in food insecure households between 2020 and 2022.