Health Equity

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Food Insecurity Data

Food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources. Adults who are food insecure may be at an increased risk for a variety of negative health outcomes and health disparities. more The Rhode Island Food Strategy includes a goal to reduce food insecurity in Rhode Island to below 10 percent by 2020.

Purpose

To assess Rhode Island's progress towards advancing health equity, as part of the Rhode Island Health Equity Measures.

Key Information

Measure Percentage of population who are food insecure
Data Source Feeding America - Map the Meal Gap
Strata County
What this measure means This measure is a county-level estimate of the  prevalence of food insecurity based on an analysis done by Feeding America. The relationship between food insecurity and closely linked measures of food insecurity (poverty, unemployment, homeownership, etc.) are first analyzed at the state level. Then, this analysis is compared with the same variables at the county level to generate estimated food insecurity rates for individuals and children in Rhode Island counties. More information about this methodology can be found in the Map the Meal Gap annual technical brief. more

Key Findings, 2017

  • The prevalence of food insecurity in Rhode Island has been steadily decreasing over the past several years, from 15.3% in 2011 to 11.4% in 2017.
  • Providence County has the highest estimated rate of food insecurity (12.6% in 2017).
  • Bristol, Kent and Washinton counties have reeached the 2020 goal with each an estimated rate of food insecurity less than 10.0% in 2017.