WASHINGTON – The overall well-being of Rhode Islanders ranks 37th among the 50 states, according to the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
The index – created by management consulting company Gallup Inc. and well-being improvement company Healthways – is scored on an average of six sub-indexes that measure life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors and access to basic necessities. The overall score is calculated from 0 to 100, for which a score of 100 represents the ideal.
Rhode Island slipped from No. 35 to No. 37 in the rankings from 2011 to 2012. Its overall well-being score fell slightly from 65.6 in 2011 to 65.5 in 2012.
During the year, the emotional health, work environment and basic access categories fell from 78 to 76.7, 44.1 to 42.6 and 82.7 to 82.3, respectively.
Rhode Island scored in the top 10 for physical health in 2012 with a score of 78.1 (for a rank of No. 9), a vast improvement from its No. 31 ranking in 2011 with a score of 76.4. The state also fared well in the health behavior category with a score of 65.7 and a ranking of No. 15.
Neighboring Massachusetts earned a No. 10 ranking with an overall well-being score of 68.1, an improvement on the 2011 score of 67.4 and ranking of No. 14. Leading Massachusetts’ score was its No. 1 rank and 86.9 score in the basic access category.
Of the 52 metropolitan areas with at least 1 million residents, the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metro area ranked in the bottom five at No. 50 with an overall score of 65. For all 189 of the metropolitan statistical areas in the United States, the Providence metro area ranked No. 55 overall.
The metro area’s shortfalls were in emotional health (No. 184 out of 189), work environment (No. 167 out of 189) and life evaluation (No. 145 out of 189).
Gallup and Healthways have been compiling their Well-Being Index since January 2008.
To view Rhode Island’s report, CLICK HERE.
To view the Massachusetts’ report, CLICK HERE.
