Another round of nationwide surveying from the Gallup organization over the first half of 2009 indicates that Pennsylvania has dropped to the 30th healthiest state in America.
Vermont wins the award for healthiest state in the annual assessment with Kentucky finishing last on the scorecard. The Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index rates each state generating a composite score and ranking based on four simple questions to nearly 180,000 questionare responders nationwide. The questions asked whether an individual smokes, did they eat healthy all day yesterday; in the last seven days, or how many days did you exercise for thirty minutes or more, and in the last seven days, on how many days did you have five or more servings of fruits and vegetables?
Extremely subjective questioning just begs for erratic data culled from responses, yet studies like this from Gallup and other organizations such as the American Public Health Association show similarities and consistency in their figures. The APHA study from December of last year also found Vermont to be the healthiest state followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Idaho and Maine. Gallup’s study had Vermont and Hawaii ranked first and second as well with Maine, New Hampshire and Idaho also in their top-nine placements.
Pennsylvania meanwhile lags behind the national average scoring a 62.1 index rating. That is down 0.9-point from last year, a full seven-points off Vermont’s pace and less than five points ahead of Kentucky’s 57.2 rating, worst in the country. Delaware residents meanwhile have reason to applaud their healthy lifestyle. The First State is sixth ranked on the Gallup list with a 64.7 rating and two-point increase from last year. New Jersey ranks near the middle of the list (24th) but above the national average with a score of 63.2, down 0.8 points from 2008.
Nationally it appears that Americans are living less healthy indicated by a substantial drop from 63.7 to 62.6 over the past year. Perhaps interestingly many of the states whose population's rank as least healthy are also ones showing the most resistance to government proposals of health care reform. The lower range of states is found almost exclusively in the Southeast, Great Lakes and Lower-Midwestern regions.
Broken down by each category the list ranks Utah as having the best score on its rate of non-smokers – Kentucky and West Virginia are tied for worse. Vermont residents exercise the most per-week with Ohioans coming in last, New Mexico has the healthiest eating population with Arkansas scoring the lowest and Vermont also wins the award for balanced diet with North Dakota ranking at the bottom.
Only ten-states showed any kind of healthy increase from 2008 to 2009. Delaware’s two point bump was good for third with South Dakota at 2.7, the highest increase of any state. On the flipside Arkansas plummeted 3.4 points over the past year, far and away the worst drop for any state. The District of Columbia was not ranked by this survey.
Vermont wins the award for healthiest state in the annual assessment with Kentucky finishing last on the scorecard. The Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index rates each state generating a composite score and ranking based on four simple questions to nearly 180,000 questionare responders nationwide. The questions asked whether an individual smokes, did they eat healthy all day yesterday; in the last seven days, or how many days did you exercise for thirty minutes or more, and in the last seven days, on how many days did you have five or more servings of fruits and vegetables?
Extremely subjective questioning just begs for erratic data culled from responses, yet studies like this from Gallup and other organizations such as the American Public Health Association show similarities and consistency in their figures. The APHA study from December of last year also found Vermont to be the healthiest state followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Idaho and Maine. Gallup’s study had Vermont and Hawaii ranked first and second as well with Maine, New Hampshire and Idaho also in their top-nine placements.
Pennsylvania meanwhile lags behind the national average scoring a 62.1 index rating. That is down 0.9-point from last year, a full seven-points off Vermont’s pace and less than five points ahead of Kentucky’s 57.2 rating, worst in the country. Delaware residents meanwhile have reason to applaud their healthy lifestyle. The First State is sixth ranked on the Gallup list with a 64.7 rating and two-point increase from last year. New Jersey ranks near the middle of the list (24th) but above the national average with a score of 63.2, down 0.8 points from 2008.
Nationally it appears that Americans are living less healthy indicated by a substantial drop from 63.7 to 62.6 over the past year. Perhaps interestingly many of the states whose population's rank as least healthy are also ones showing the most resistance to government proposals of health care reform. The lower range of states is found almost exclusively in the Southeast, Great Lakes and Lower-Midwestern regions.
Broken down by each category the list ranks Utah as having the best score on its rate of non-smokers – Kentucky and West Virginia are tied for worse. Vermont residents exercise the most per-week with Ohioans coming in last, New Mexico has the healthiest eating population with Arkansas scoring the lowest and Vermont also wins the award for balanced diet with North Dakota ranking at the bottom.
Only ten-states showed any kind of healthy increase from 2008 to 2009. Delaware’s two point bump was good for third with South Dakota at 2.7, the highest increase of any state. On the flipside Arkansas plummeted 3.4 points over the past year, far and away the worst drop for any state. The District of Columbia was not ranked by this survey.
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