Report: Bristol County again healthiest county in R.I.

BRISTOL COUNTY again is the healthiest county in Rhode Island. / COURTESY ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
BRISTOL COUNTY again is the healthiest county in Rhode Island. / COURTESY ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

PROVIDENCE – For the fourth year in a row, Bristol County is the healthiest county in Rhode Island, according to the eighth annual health rankings from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The rest of the counties were unchanged from last year: Washington County was second; Newport County, third; Kent County, fourth; and Providence County, fifth.

The rankings measure the overall health of counties in all 50 states, and look at measures that affect the future health of communities, such as high school graduation rates, access to healthy foods, rates of smoking and obesity, and teen births.

Adult smoking rates in Bristol, Newport and Washington counties were the lowest at 13 percent, compared with 16 percent in Providence and Kent counties.

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Obesity rates also were lowest in Bristol and Newport counties at 23 percent, compared with 24 percent in Washington County, 28 percent in Providence County and 29 percent in Kent County.

Newport and Washington counties had adult smoking rates of 13 percent, while Kent and Providence counties had rates of 16 percent.

Excessive drinking, defined as adults reporting binge or heavy drinking, was 19 percent in Bristol, Kent and Washington counties.

Providence County had 17 percent of adults reporting excessive drinking, the lowest among the five counties. Newport County had the highest percentage of adults reporting excessive drinking at 22 percent.

Ninety-one percent of Bristol County residents polled graduated from high school, compared with 90 percent in Washington County, 88 percent in Newport County, 85 percent in Kent County and 80 percent in Providence County.

Providence County had 28 teen births, the highest in the state.

Kent County had the next-highest number of teen births at 17, followed by Newport County with 12, Washington County with eight, and Bristol County with six.

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