The United States has gradually become a food-stamp nation as high costs and lower wages make the lives of average citizens more challenging.

There are now almost 46 million people in the US living on food stamps, roughly 15 percent of the population. That's an increase of 74 percent since 2007, just before the financial crisis and a deep recession hit the US, leading to mass job losses.

While there are clearly some cases of abuse by people who claim food stamps but don't really need them, for many Americans there is little current alternative if they are to put food on the table while paying rent and utility bills.

The maximum amount a family of four can receive in food stamps is $668 a month, which can only be used to purchase food-though not hot food- and for plants and seeds to grow food.

In some parts of the country, shoppers using food stamps have almost become the norm. In May 2011, a third of all people in Alabama were on food stamps -- though part of that was because of emergency assistance after communities were destroyed by a series of destructive tornadoes. Washington D.C., Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee all had about a fifth of their population on food stamps that month.

With food stamp recipients increasing, the cost doubled to reach $68 billion in 2010, which amounts to more a third of the amount the US government received in corporate income tax last year.

Over the past 20 years, the characteristics of food stamp recipients have changed. In 1989, a higher percentage were on benefits than working, but as of 2009 a higher percentage had earned income.

And that's only likely to get worse: So far in the recovery, jobs growth has been concentrated in lower-wage occupations, with minimal growth in middle-income wages as many higher-paid blue collar jobs have disappeared.