According to America’s Health Rankings® Annual Report Georgia ranks 41st in the nation for health. The report ranks each state across 34 measures of behaviors, community and environment, policy, clinical care, and outcomes.
Hawaii ranks as the healthiest state for the fifth straight year. The state has held the top spot eight times in the 27-year history of the Annual Report. Massachusetts (second), Connecticut (third), Minnesota (fourth), and Vermont (fifth) round out the top five states for overall health.
States in the Southeast tend to be the least healthy. Mississippi ranks as the state with the greatest opportunity for improvement, dropping from 49th to 50th this year. Louisiana improved to 49th, while Arkansas (48th), Alabama (47th), and Oklahoma (46th) round out the states with greatest opportunities for improvement.
Some of the report’s highlights regarding Georgia include:
Strengths
- Low rate of drug deaths
- Low incidence of pertussis
- High immunization coverage among children
Challenges
- High percentage of children in poverty
- High percentage of population without insurance
- High prevalence of low birthweight
Highlights
- In the past year, physical inactivity increased 16% from 23.6% to 27.3% of adults.
- In the past 15 years, children in poverty increased 75% from 16.4% to 28.7% of children.
- In the past year, meningococcal immunization among adolescents aged 13 to 17 years increased 16% from 74.9% to 87.0%
- In the past year, HPV immunization among males aged 13 to 17 years increased 31% from 21.0% to 27.5%.
- In the past year, infant mortality increased 9% from 6.6 to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.
America’s Health Rankings® Annual Report analyzes a comprehensive set of behaviors, community and environment, policy, clinical care, and outcomes data to provide a holistic view of the health of the nation. It also offers a benchmark to compare each state’s progress and declines over the past 27 years against national performance, offering insights into the success of public health efforts.
For more information on the report, visit America’s Health Rankings®
