The polling group Gallup, the health company Healthways and a national association representing health insurance companies called America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) together developed the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) to measure America’s relative health, well-being, and prosperity. Launched in 2008, the WBI uses data from a 42 question survey that measures how Americans are faring physically, emotionally, socially, and economically at any given point in time. To date, pollsters have conducted nearly 450,000 interviews, at a rate of about 1,000 surveys per day. The report released today includes an overall composite score for each state and congressional district, as well as sub-index scores in six domains: Life Evaluation, Emotional Health, Physical Health, Healthy Behavior, Work Environment and Basic Access. The survey will be ongoing with annual updates for the next 25 years.

The nation’s overall score on the WBI has declined precipitously over the past year, and some states have been affected more than others. In general, Western states had the highest well-being scores while the lowest scores were mostly in the South. The bottom 10 states for well-being appear below, with the average score for overall well-being (out of 100) following in parentheses. Lower scores mean less overall we-being.

The top 10 states with the worst overall well-being in America are:

1. West Virginia (61.2 /100)
2. Kentucky (61.4)
3. Mississippi (61.9)
4. Ohio (62.8)
5. Arkansas (62.9)
6. Indiana (63.3)
7. Missouri (63.8)
8. Oklahoma (64.0)
9. Tennessee (64.0)
10. Michigan (64.0)

Share your thoughts on the rankings in the Healia Community for Men’s Health or the Healia Community for Women’s Health.

Related blog post: State and Congressional District Well-Being Rankings Released: Top 10 states for well-being in America.

_{Source: Gallup, Healthways, and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, 2008 State and Congressional Well-Being Reports, 3/09. http://www.ahiphiwire.org/WellBeing/}

_{Photo: B Rosen, Flikr, Creative Commons}