Kent County ranks 17th out of 83 counties measured in Michigan in the national County Health Rankings. The report was released today by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The ranking places Kent County in the same position as last year’s report.

Kent County attained 17th in Health Outcomes, which measures how long people live, how healthy people feel, and mental well-being. Our overall Health Factors ranking remained the same at 17th.

“The data indicate no change in the percentage of smokers or in the percentage of those who regularly engage in excessive drinking. However, more people are saying that they are physically active and 92 percent said they have access to exercise opportunities. That percentile is among the best in the United States,” noted Adam London, Administrative Health Officer for the Kent County Health Department.

Overall, the scores are very positive. There are, however, several areas where there is a need for improvement.

The study found the following issues of concern:

• 19 percent of children in Kent County live in poverty. While Kent County outperforms the state and national averages, this rate is cause for concern.
• 11 percent of Kent County residents have no medical insurance.
• 22 percent of Kent County adults admit to heavy or excessive drinking, this is slightly higher than the Michigan average of 20 percent.
• 579.9 of every one hundred thousand people in Kent County have a sexually transmitted infection compared to an average of 447.2 in Michigan.
• Kent County had a daily average of 10.7 parts per million (ppm) of fine particulate matter in the air. While this number has leveled or fallen across several years, it continues to outpace the national and state averages.

   

   

  To view the full report visit http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/.