The overall health of the nation declined over the past year, despite progress made in several key health indicators, according to a report issued Nov. 5 by United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and Partnership for Prevention. The 18th annual edition of America’s Health Rankings: A Call to Action for People & Their Communities indicates that the overall health of the nation declined by a rate of 0.3 percent since last year.
Although the report shows there have been modest gains in reducing the rates of cancer and cardiovascular mortality, these improvements continue to be dwarfed by increasing obesity, increasing numbers of uninsured people, children in poverty, and the persistence of risky health behaviors. This lack of progress is in sharp contrast to the nation’s average annual improvement of 1.5 percent between 1990 and 2000. In fact, since 2000, there has been a virtual stagnation in health improvement.
The report also ranks the healthiness of each state. Vermont surpassed Minnesota as the healthiest state in the nation this year, with Minnesota (2), Hawaii (3), New Hampshire (4), and Connecticut (5) rounding out the top five. Mississippi ranks as the least healthy state, with Louisiana (49), Arkansas (48), Oklahoma (47), and Tennessee (46) completing the bottom five.
