This report is a census of women, infants, and children who were participating in the WIC program in April, 2012. The report includes information on participant income and nutrition risk characteristics, and estimates breastfeeding initiation rates for WIC infants.

This study is part of a larger FNS effort to ensure WIC program integrity and to comply with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 which requires FNS to estimate improper payments in its programs.

This report estimates the average monthly food costs for each of 5 WIC participant subgroups and estimates total dollars spent on 17 major categories of WIC-eligible foods in FY 2010. The participant and food level costs in this report are USDA’s first estimates since implementation of the 2009 WIC food package changes.

This report offers updated estimates of the population that met these criteria and was eligible for WIC benefits in 2010. This report includes (1) estimates of the number of eligibles (including children by single year of age) and coverage rates; (2) updated estimates in U.S. territories; and (3) confidence intervals.