Food stamps i USA

One-in-five children in the US are currently living in poverty. RT’s Anastasia Churkina takes a look at a harsh reality of America’s recession that many wish to avoid.

Children are commonly associated with being playful and innocent, but one-in-five in the US are currently struggling with hunger.

It is hardly surprising in this light, then, that the estimate for number of people living with diabetes has been increased, to 371 million - an increase of 11% over 2011.

The most direct and obvious impact of obesity is on incidence of diabetes - a severely obese person is around 60 times more likely to develop diabetes than someone with normal weight. High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels are also linked to high BMI.

According to the American Cancer Society, one-third of cancer deaths are linked to obesity and/or lack of physical activity.

Improvements in cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention has seen an improvement in death rates for cancer in the US over recent years, but the obesity epidemic within the US puts this trend at risk. Obesity is a known risk factor for multiple different tumour types, including oesophageal, colorectal, endometrial, kidney and certain breast cancers.

More than 100 million people in the United States of America get welfare from the federal government. 100 million.

According to the Weekly Standard, Senate Republicans say that the federal government administers nearly "80 different overlapping federal means-tested welfare programs."

This figure of 100 million people does not include those who only receive Social Security or Medicare.