This report, the latest in a series of annual reports on WIC eligibility, presents 2021 national and state estimates of the number of people eligible for WIC benefits and the percents of the eligible population and the US population covered by the program, including estimates by participant category.

​This report responds to House Report 117-82, which directs the USDA to publish state-level estimates of the percentage of pregnant women, infants, and children under age five participating in FNS’s SNAP or in Medicaid but not participating in WIC.   

The physical presence waiver, issued under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, allowed WIC state and local agencies to remotely certify participants into WIC during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report summarizes data collected from surveys of WIC state and local agencies about the use of the physical presence waiver and the impact it had on WIC services.

Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, the USDA FNS issued certain programmatic waivers to state agencies to support continued access to WIC services and provide flexibilities to some administrative requirements. This brief report summarizes findings about the use and impact of these waivers from surveys of WIC state and local agencies.

This preliminary report summarizes key changes, improvements, and challenges to WC operations as delivered under the physical presence and remote benefit issuance waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings represent a first, high-level look at survey data collected from state and local WIC agencies to fulfill reporting requirements for waivers issued under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

These graphics, the latest in a series of annual reports on WIC eligibility, present 2020 national and state estimates of the number of people eligible for WIC benefits and the percentages of the eligible population and the US population covered by the program, including estimates by participant category.

The National Survey of WIC Participants (NSWP) study series is designed to describe state and local agency characteristics, examine participants’ characteristics, assess participants’ experiences with WIC, and estimate improper payments resulting from certification errors in WIC. The study is conducted approximately every 10 years, and the current study is the third iteration (NSWP-III) in the series. 

This report addresses actions taken by the Food and Nutrition Service to comply with the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (PL 116-260, HR 116-446), which directs USDA to conduct a review of existing evidence and develop a plan to explore how participation in WIC is associated with maternal mortality, with emphasis on the needs of disadvantaged communities of color.

This study primarily uses 2011–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to examine bivariate relationships between reported WIC participation and outcomes including diet quality, indicators of nutrition and health, food consumption patterns, and nutrient intakes among 1- to 4-year-old children. Most results presented in this report are unadjusted and descriptive only, and do not infer causality. They are intended to contribute to the evidence base needed to inform future research and, subsequently, WIC policy and practice.

This report, the latest in a series of annual reports on WIC eligibility, presents 2018 national and state estimates of the number of people eligible for WIC benefits and the percents of the eligible population and the US population covered by the program, including estimates by participant category.