The Rankings

Minnesota

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Strengths:

• Low rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease
• Low rate of uninsured population
• High rate of high school graduation

Challenges:

• High incidence of infectious disease
• Low per capita public health funding
• High prevalence of binge drinking

Highlights:

• While smoking has decreased from 19.8 percent to 14.9 percent of adults in the past ten years, 599,000 people still smoke in Minnesota.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty decreased from 17.4 percent to 13.9 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past year, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 55.1 to 52.9 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 17.4 percent to 25.4 percent of the adult population, with more than 1.0 million obese adults in Minnesota.
• In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 4.9 percent to 6.7 percent of the population, with 269,000 adults with diabetes in the state.
• The violent crime rate decreased in the last five years from 297 to 236 offenses per 100,000 population.

Health Disparities:

In Minnesota, smoking is more prevalent among Hispanics at 20.8 percent and non-Hispanic blacks at 21.3 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 15.9 percent. Diabetes is more prevalent among non-Hispanic whites at 6.3 percent than non-Hispanic blacks at 3.4 percent but less prevalent than Hispanics at 7.4 percent of adults.

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