Once again, North Carolina ranks very low on the America’s Health Rankings. For what looks like the third straight year, The Old North State finished at an almost pathetic 37th out of 50 states. North Carolina has never been higher than 30 and has been as low as 42 since the rankings were started in 1990.
Some of the major issues causing the low ranking included “high prevalence of obesity at 29.5 percent of the population (where it ranked 41st), low immunization coverage for children (45th), and high infant mortality rate (44th). On the brighter side, the study revealed that North Carolina has a low rate of binge drinking, the number of uninsured residents has decreased over the past year, as well did the percentage of the state’s population that smoked.
But, despite these positive changes, North Carolina only ranked in the top 10 in one categories (binge drinking). As well, the percentage of the population who are obese, as mentioned, has risen 10% over the past 20 years. Add off of these up and we end up near the bottom of the barrel.
The best? Vermont.
The worst? Mississippi.
See the full report in PDF form here and a huge chart of all things North Carolina health here.
Welcome to New Raleigh. We welcome your participation in the ongoing discussion. Before posting we ask that you read our Comment Policy and we invite you to register with our site. If you want to keep up with the news on our blog, subscribe to the RSS feed or get emailed every time we post.