With the economy still in recovery mode and people still struggling to find work, many Americans have turned to social welfare programs to help them out during the tough period.

The Wall Street Journal decided to dig in to the numbers a bit further and discovered that over the last year, usage of food stamps has risen 1.8 percent, with 15 percent of Americans now on the program.

According to the same WSJ report, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reached 47.3 million members. That's about 1 in 7 Americans.

"In 1975, 8 percent of all Americans were on SNAP. That percentage is 15% today," the chart on WSJ read. "The Congressional Budget Office predicts unemployment will drop to 4.6 percent by 2017, but that SNAP enrollment will only drop to 43.3 million people."

The SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, is one of the government's largest services and isn't peeling back as the economy begins to recover.

Although on a month-to-month basis it appears to be getting better, annual growth is still continuing, according to the WSJ.

While Mississippi has the largest percentage of recipient's, with 22 percent of its' population on the program, Illinois is the only state that saw a double-digit increase over the last year, according to the report.

States such as Louisiana, Tennessee and Georgia are struggling as well, with 1 in 5 residents receiving assistance.

In the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., food stamp usage soared to 23 percent.

However, some states did see a drop in overall usage of the program.

"Oregon, Maine, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Idaho, North Dakota, Utah and North Carolina all posted annual drops," the journal said.