Report Finds Big Disparities in Americans' Well-Being by Region

MONDAY, Nov. 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Americans’ well-being varies widely between different regions of the nation, a new study reports. People in the southern U.

S., Appalachia and the Rust Belt states score lowest on the Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure that includes a population’s life expectancy, education and income, researchers report in The Lancet . The highest levels of well-being occur among people living in parts of Colorado, Maryland, New York, California, Virginia and Washington, D.

C., researchers said. “As a new federal administration prepares to take actions aimed at solving the most pressing economic, social, and health issues the US population faces, this study underscores the urgent need for action by policymakers, educators, and public health experts,” senior researcher Dr.

Christopher Murray , director of the Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a news release. “IHME’s findings further emphasize the critical need to develop highly targeted social programs to dismantle deep-rooted structural inequalities in the US,” Murray added. The United Nations Development Program created the HDI as a measure to help track well-being between nations, researchers said in background notes.

For this study, U.S. researchers adapted the HDI to gauge well-being based on years of education, household income and life expectancy estimates.

Overall, the average U.S. HDI increased gradually fro.