Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Low prevalence of binge drinking

 

Challenges:

• Low high school graduation rate
• High infant mortality rate
• High levels of air pollution
• High prevalence of low birthweight

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, the high school graduation rate increased from 61.2 percent to 67.8 percent of ninth graders who graduate in four years.
• In the past five years, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 82.0 to 68.4 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• In the past ten years, the rate of uninsured population increased from 15.0 percent to 19.3 percent.
• Georgia has 2 million obese adults and almost 750,000 adults have diabetes.
• While Georgia is still challenged by a high infant mortality rate, in the past ten years it has declined from 8.4 to 7.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.

 

Disparities:

• In Georgia, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 37.6 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 26.1 percent; smoking is more prevalent among non-Hispanic whites at 18.8 percent than Hispanics at 13.6 percent; and sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among Hispanics at 30.1 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 22.6 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.health.state.ga.us