Food Stamp Program Participation Rates: 2003

This report, the latest in a series on food stamp participation rates based on the March Current Population Survey, presents national participation rates for fiscal year 2003. Of the 37 million individuals eligible for food stamps in an average month in 2003, 21 million (56 percent) chose to participate. Although the FSP serves just over half of all those eligible, it provides 65 percent of the benefits that all eligible individuals could receive. As a result, the FSP appears to be reaching the neediest eligible individuals. Nationally, the participation rate rose by nearly two percentage points between 2002 and 2003, the second annual increase, after declining for seven years.