The United Health Foundation has released its annual ranking of 50 states from the healthiest to the least healthy.
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Get Your Report Now!The rankings take into account various health-related data, including each state's rate of cardiovascular deaths, premature death rates, uninsured populations, percentage of children in poverty, infant mortality rates, occupational fatalities, motor vehicle deaths, and prevalence of obesity.
In the 2006 edition of the report, the 10 states ranked as the healthiest were:
1. Minnesota
2. Vermont
3. New Hampshire
4. Hawaii
5. Connecticut
6. Utah
7. Massachusetts
8. North Dakota
9. Maine
10. Wisconsin
The 10 states at the bottom of the list were:
41. Florida
42. Georgia
43. West Virginia
44. Oklahoma
45. Alabama
46. Arkansas
47. Tennessee
48. South Carolina
49. Mississippi
50. Louisiana
Minnesota has held the number one spot in the ranking in 11 of the past 17 years. California and New York were ranked the 23rd and 29th most healthy state, respectively. The states with the largest positive increases in their overall health since last year's rankings were Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kansas. The states with the greatest overall health decline since 2005 were New Mexico, Idaho, and West Virginia, according to the full report.
A complete listing and analytical report on the 2006 rankings are available here.