Slightly more than 5 percent of Utah's households skipped a meal or ate less between 2005 and 2007 because they did not have enough food, a new federal report says, giving the state the fourth-highest ranking in the country of households with severe food shortages.

Only Mississippi, Maine and Oregon had a higher percentage of residents with such extreme hunger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

Utah's percentage -- 5.1 percent -- was half a point worse than its 2002-2004 average. Advocates say this population has the highest need, but may be the hardest to help.

"That's the most vulnerable group of folks," said Gina Cornia, the executive director of Utahns Against Hunger, an advocacy group. "They might be people who will never access a government program. They might not have a family support system."

But during the same period, the overall state hunger rate improved, something Cornia attributed in part to the stronger economy. That rate reflects a broader range of residents and is defined as the percentage of families who had inadequate food including those with extreme hunger.

Dropping to 12.5 percent during 2005-2007, that meant most Utah households -- or 87.5 percent -- had sufficient food to meet everyone's needs.

But as the economy has spiraled downward, Utah has had one of the largest jumps in the number of people using food stamps in the nation. Utah's participation rate by individuals increased 16.2 percent between August 2007 and August 2008, according to the Washington D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center.

The federal report's indication of improvement in the overall hunger rate is misleading, advocates said Monday, noting that the USDA information is out-of-date and does not include 2008 data.

Food pantries across the valley have reported that the number of families seeking help has gone up by a third or more this fall.

More than 62,000 households took advantage of food stamps in October, a record number for the state.

"We shouldn't be complacent that about 5 percent of our neighbors are confronted with hunger," said Bill Tibbitts, the director of the anti-hunger project at Crossroads Urban Center. "We're actually going into this recession with more people suffering from hunger than we did than the last recession."

jlyon@sltrib.com