Fewer American families are having to worry about going to bed on an empty stomach, according to a current Department of Agriculture report. The decline since 1995 is especially dramatic, given the population increase since then.

• The number of households in which people worried about getting enough food fell by 12 percent between 1995 and 1999.

• During the same period, the number of households that actually experienced hunger declined by 24 percent.

• Agriculture Department bureaucrats classify hunger into three categories -- households which have enough to eat are called "food secure," while "food insecure" refers to those who worry about getting enough food, and "food insecure with hunger" means that at least one person missed meals during the year because there was not enough food.

• According to the department's unadjusted data, 10.1 percent of U.S. households claimed they were food insecure -- while 3 percent classified themselves as "food insecure with hunger."

Presumably, this was despite the food stamp program.

Source: Cheryl Wetzstein, "USDA Reports Hunger on Decline in Nation," Washington Times, September 8, 2000.