Utah ranked the 5th healthiest state in the nation

Utah ranked the 5th healthiest state in the nation

12/10/2014
ABC News/KTVX
Source: United Health Foundation

A new report ranks Utah as the fifth healthiest state in the United States. But as a whole the United States is not doing well. In fact the report states Americans are getting fatter and lazier!

According to annual nationwide report from the United Health Foundation, around the third of adults are considered obese. Americans aren’t just gaining weight they’re exercising less. Nearly a quarter of Americans say they haven’t done any physical activity in the last 30 days that’s up from last year’s report.

The statistics show a troubling trend over the past 25 years. During that time, the obesity rate has doubled and the diabetes rate has more than doubled.

The United Health Foundation also looked at state by state data to determine the healthy winners and losers.

No surprise Hawaii comes in at #1 for America’s Healthiest State. New England makes a strong showing Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut come in second, third and fourth. Mississippi is ranked the least healthy in the nation. Its neighbors Arkansas and Louisiana are right behind.

The report also has some other interesting findings. Nationwide, smoking is down three percent and immunizations are up five percent. According to America’s Health Ranks, we have a low prevalence of smoking, a low percentage of children in poverty and a low rate of preventable hospitalizations. That’s the good news.

The challenges we face, according to the same report, are we have a high rate of drug deaths, we have low immunization coverage among teens and limited availability of primary care physicians.