Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative announced today that Iowa’s ranking in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index has dropped from 10th last year to 16th in the nation this year.

 

Officials were quick to point out, however, that Iowa’s overall wellness score has remained virtually unchanged for the past three years, while other states, among them Alaska, Wyoming, New Mexico and Texas, have pushed Iowa out of the top 10.

 

“Other states have seen substantial improvement, which has caused Iowa’s rank to lower,” said Jami Haberl, executive director of the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, in a press release. The state’s overall well-being index score of 62.20 is only six-tenths of a point away from placing in the top 10, she noted, and just 2.5 points lower than top-ranked Alaska.

 

The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative was launched in 2011 with a goal of Iowa becoming the healthiest state in the nation by 2016, as measured by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. When the initiative was announced, Iowa ranked 19th and had previously been as low as 26th. The state achieved its highest ranking two years ago at 9th and moved last year to 10th.

 

The state-level data are based on more than 176,000 interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states, conducted from January to December 2014. The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents the highest possible well-being. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index score for the nation and for each state consists of metrics affecting overall well-being and each of the five essential elements of well-being:

• Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals

• Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life

• Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security

• Community: liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community

• Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily

For Iowa, the categories that presented the most opportunities for improvement included Physical, in which the state ranked 36th, and Social, in which it ranked 40th. Within these elements, Iowa had the ninth-highest obesity rate in the country and 13th-highest smoking rate. Iowa also ranked 47th in “someone encourages you to be healthy” and 49th in “produce consumption.”

 

From 2010 through 2014, Iowa has several areas of improvement that have surpassed the level of changes seen nationally, Healthiest State officials said. Those include reduced incidence of heart attacks; reduced incidence of high blood pressure; reduced incidence of diabetes; reduced daily worry; and improved satisfaction with the city/area where you live.

 

“While Iowa has made great strides in several areas, there is still a lot of work to be done,” said Haberl. “This summer the Healthiest State Initiative will be launching an assessment tool to help businesses, communities and schools identify opportunities to increase the overall well-being of Iowans,” she said. 

 

To access the “State of American Well-Being: 2014 State Well-Being Rankings,” visit www.well-beingindex.com/2014-state-rankings.