How Healthy is Your State?
March 26th, 2008 by Jennifer Pinto
Where you live determines how you live.
“Health Care State Rankings 2008,” by independent publisher CQ Press, has named Mississippi the most unhealthy state in America, followed by last year’s dubious winner, Louisiana.
According to the report on AOL.com, “Mississippi has the highest rate of teenage births in the nation, the highest infant mortality rate and the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases. It also has the largest percentage of obese adults and adults who do not exercise.” Interestingly, the country seems divided by regions; the top unhealthiest cities are mostly in the South or West while the healthiest cities tend to be in the Northeast or Midwest.
Unhealthiest States
1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. New Mexico
4. Nevada
5. Florida
Healthiest States
1. Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Vermont
4. Maine
5. Massachusetts
PolicyLink believes that where you live determines how well you live; and available resources are not always equally distributed. Furthermore, communities of color and low-income communities often deal with issues of poverty and economic disinvestment, that compromise individual and community health. For more information on these issues, check out: “Why Place Matters: Building a Movement for Healthy Communities,” (pdf) a report by PolicyLink and The California Endowment, which provides an interesting framework that further explains the relationship between community conditions and health.