More than 46 million people in the U.S. are on food stamps


The number of people on food stamps in the U.S. exceeds the total population of Argentina (43,024,374). And that's nothing new: As of November, 14.5 percent of the U.S. population was benefiting from the Supplemental Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.
According to the Department of Agriculture, and reported by CNSNews, the number of food stamp recipients has exceeded 46 million every month since Sept. 2011. There were 46,271,508 Americans on food stamps in Nov. 2014, a decrease of 206,170 participants from the previous month.
According to CNSNews, "Households on food stamps got an average benefit of $259.95 during the month, and total benefits for the month cost taxpayers $5,900,887,430."
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