More people on food stamps than the population of 24 states

If you were in the crowd upset about the lady who used food stamps after winning the lottery, or the couple that invented triplets to get them, you may want to turn the other way when we tell you that the number of people collecting food stamps now has surpassed the combined population of 24 states and the District of Columbia. That comparison, produced by conservative news site Breitbart, includes sparsely populated states like Alaska, Hawaii and Montana. And, obviously, most food stamp users aren't abusing the system, but the figure has many Twitter users up in arms today with accusations of fraud and criticism of the Obama administration. Food stamp use has risen from 31.9 million people in January 2009 to the current record high of 47.1 million people. [Source]

This story was corrected to show the figures referred to are numbers of individuals, not dollar amounts.

Click to see more on msnNOW.com, updated 24 hours a day.