Americans keep getting fatter. That's the word from The United Health Foundation's annual report -- America's Health Rankings.
The 2011 report, which ranks states according to various health factors, "suggests our nation is extremely adept at treating illness and disease. However, Americans are struggling to change unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and obesity, which cause many of these diseases in the first place."
Obesity is the nation's biggest health problem, researchers say. Obesity has increased 137 percent from 11.6 percent of the adult population in 1990 to 27.5 percent in 2011; meaning more than one in four Americans are considered obese. The obesity rate was 26.9 percent last year.
Smoking is on the decline, down to 17.3 percent of the U.S. adult population, the lowest figure in 22 years. Still, tobacco use is estimated to be responsible for one out of five deaths annually (approximately 443,000 deaths per year), the report states.
Georgia is the 37th healthiest state in the U.S., same as last year. Georgia was ranked 43rd in 2009, and was ranked in the low 40s for much of the last decade.
Overall, the Deep South's love of deep fried food seems to have doomed it -- Mississippi is once again ranked 50th, a position it has held every year since 2002.
Louisiana (49th), Oklahoma (48th), Arkansas (47th), Alabama (46th) and South Carolina (45th) constitute the least healthy states, according to the report.
Colder climates seem to fare well.
Vermont ascended from 20th in 1990 and 1991 to the top position with sustained improvement in the last decade, the report says. Other top states in the 2011 report include New Hampshire (2), Connecticut (3), Hawaii (4) and Massachusetts (5).
Georgia's strengths include a low prevalence of binge drinking, high immunization coverage and moderate use of early prenatal care. Area's the state could work on are a low high school graduation rate, high levels of air pollution and a high rate of uninsured population.
Here's some more Georgia health info detailed in the report:
While smoking has decreased from 22.1 percent to 17.6 percent of the adult population in the past five years, nearly 1.3 million adults still smoke in Georgia. Almost 2.2 million adults in Georgia are obese, 894,000 more adults than 10 years ago. In the past five years, the violent crime rate decreased from 446 to 403 offenses per 100,000 population. In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 6.8 percent to 9.7 percent of the adult population, increasing the number of adults with diabetes in the state to 698,000. In the past ten years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 16.4 percent to 24.7 percent of persons under age 18. In Georgia, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 38.1 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 25.6 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 12.8 percent of non-Hispanic blacks have diabetes compared to 8.4 percent of non-Hispanic whites.
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