This report presents the characteristics of food stamp households nationwide in fiscal year 2000 (October 1999 to September 2000). This information on household characteristics comes from FSP household data for fiscal year 2000 collected by FNS for quality control purposes. 

Since 1992, FNS has produced biennial reports on WIC participant and program characteristics based on the WIC Minimum Data Set compiled from state management information systems. The 20 items included in the MDS are collected as part of ongoing WIC operations and consist primarily of in formation related to participant eligibility.

Over the last decade, food stamp participation rose more sharply than expected following the relatively short and mild recession in the early 1990s and fell more sharply than expected after 1994 during the sustained period of economic growth. Report language accompanying the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2001 directed the Food and Nutrition Service to study the decline in participation in the Food Stamp Program.

This study examines the trends in the prevalence of overweight among WIC children during the 1990s. The study is based on data collected by the biennial WIC Participant and Program Characteristics Studies (1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998).