691,000 children went hungry in America during 2007, and close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately.

The Agriculture Department's annual report on food security showed the number of children who went hungry last year was more than 50 percent higher than the 430,000 in 2006. In fact, it was the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.

Overall, 36.2 million adults and children struggled to obtain food during the year, up from 35.5 million in 2006. That’s about 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food. Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000.