Which US states have the most people on food stamps?


In the world's richest country, one measure of poverty is the number of people receiving food stamps - which allow them to get sustenance.
West Virginia is among a handful of states - all of which have long grappled with entrenched poverty - where more than 16% of the population is on food stamps. Highest of all is the US capital, Washington DC (although not strictly a state) with over 17%. Missiissippi, Missouri and Tennessee make up the rest of the group.
But the sharpest increase in the numbers of people on food stamps over the past year has been in states such as Idaho, where there was a 32% rise, mostly of people in poorly paid jobs unable to cope with fuel and food price rises because a large proportion of jobs are close to minimum wage.
The number of people on food stamps in Nevada, Utah and Florida, which has been particularly badly hit by the foreclosure crisis, are all up by about 29 percent.

DATA: US food stamps by state
Poverty rates by US state


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