Minnesota

Minnesota is first this year, a position it has held for nine of the 15 years since the 1990 Edition. It was tied for first with New Hampshire in 2003. Strengths include ranking first for a low rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease at 259.2 deaths per 100,000 population, a low premature death rate with 5,595 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population and a low rate of uninsured population at 8.7 percent. It is also in the top five states for high support for public health, a low percentage of children in poverty, a low total mortality rate, a low infant mortality rate, a low occupational fatalities rate and a high rate of high school graduation. Minnesota's biggest challenges are a high prevalence of obesity at 23.0 percent of the population and low access to adequate prenatal care with 76.0 percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care. This measure also illustrates the wide health disparities within the state, with only 44.9 percent of pregnant American Indian women receiving adequate care compared to 79.1 percent of pregnant white women. The state ranks first for the combined measures of risk factors and first for the combined measures of outcomes, indicating it will likely remain among the relatively healthy states in the future.

In the past year, the percent of state health dollars allocated to public health increased from 3.6 percent to 16.8 percent.

Since 1990, the percentage of children in poverty has declined from 21.2 percent to 9.7 percent of persons under age 18, and the prevalence of obesity has increased from 10.2 percent to 23.0 percent of the population.

To learn more about health and health initiatives in Minnesota, visit the Minnesota state department of health Web site at: www.health.state.mn.us/

A dash (--) indicates data not available.
* Data sources and/or methdology may not be comparable for this year.