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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Tue Mar 11, 2014, 12:19 PM Mar 2014

America’s Most Content (and Miserable) States

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/02/20/americas-most-content-and-miserable-states/

The well-being of Americans hasn’t improved in the past six years, and it even declined slightly in 2013, according to a recent Gallup study. While national figures remained flat overall, the ranks of the states with the highest well-being scores changed considerably. North Dakota topped the well-being list in 2013 after failing to crack the top 10 in 2012. Hawaii, 2012’s top state, fell to number eight in 2013. West Virginia, on the other hand, remained at the bottom of the list for the fifth consecutive year.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which interviewed more than 176,000 people from all 50 states last year, measures the physical and emotional health of Americans across the country. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the more than 50 metrics comprising the six broad categories Gallup used to identify well-being.

Well-being matters because it effectively reflects health, employment, education, and the local environment, Dan Witters, research director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, told 24/7 Wall St. Witters suggested that this means that a strong economy and a healthy, educated workforce can improve well-being, just as high well-being may also influence further development.

Because these relationships appear to exist, “there’s a lot of things that employers or communities can do structurally, culturally, legislatively, that can positively affect change around well-being,” Witters added.

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The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

http://info.healthways.com/wbi2013

For the sixth consecutive year, global well-being improvement leader Healthways and world-leading management consulting firm Gallup have released their analysis of the state of well-being across the United States. The analysis is based on data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index®, a definitive measure and empiric database of real-time changes in well-being throughout the world.

More than 178,000 interviews nationwide fueled the 2013 analysis, which examined Americans’ perceptions on topics such as physical and emotional health, healthy behaviors, work environment, social and community factors, financial security, and access to necessities such as food, shelter and healthcare to create a composite well-being rank for each state.

Launched in 2008, the Well-Being Index provides unmatched, in-depth insight into the well-being of populations. Gallup conducts 500 telephone interviews a day with Americans to gather their perceptions of well-being, for a resulting sample that represents an estimated 95 percent of all U.S. households. In 2013, Gallup and Healthways extended the reach of the Well-Being Index beyond the United States; global leaders now have the ability to benchmark the well-being of their country against the results of roughly 140 countries around the world.

The full “State of American Well-Being: 2013 State, Community and Congressional District Analysis,” as well as state-level reports, will be available online in April. Look for the “State of Global Well-Being” reports this summer.

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tridim

(45,358 posts)
2. It's shocking to me that CO is that low this year.
Tue Mar 11, 2014, 12:59 PM
Mar 2014

It is EASILY the most chill state in the union, even before legalization.

TlalocW

(15,358 posts)
3. They probably surveyed people
Tue Mar 11, 2014, 01:01 PM
Mar 2014

In 2013 when they were all like, "C'mooooooon 2014... Get here alreadyyyyyyyyy!"

TlalocW

tridim

(45,358 posts)
6. Colorado is laid back, relaxed, content, happy, helpful, friendly and kind.
Tue Mar 11, 2014, 01:29 PM
Mar 2014

I've never met nicer people.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
8. lol. and people say that about Mississippi and Alabama and just about every other
Tue Mar 11, 2014, 02:15 PM
Mar 2014

state. Colorado has also elected some deeply hateful and horrible people and has a large wingnut contingent.

Tom Tancredo ring a bell?

denverbill

(11,489 posts)
7. Wow. Look at the bottom 10. The reddest of red states.
Tue Mar 11, 2014, 01:36 PM
Mar 2014

I think they just like being miserable, that's why they keep voting against their own interests.

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