Strengths:

• High rate of high school graduation
• High per capita public health funding
• Low prevalence of diabetes
• Ready access to early prenatal care

 

Challenges:

• Moderate immunization coverage
• High prevalence of binge drinking

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 7.4 percent to 13.5 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 4.4 percent to 6.8 percent of adults. Now 42,000 Vermont adults have diabetes.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 18.2 percent to 23.9 percent of adults, with 149,000 obese adults in the state.
• In the past year, the incidence of infectious disease decreased from 8.5 to 3.1 cases per 100,000 population.
• While smoking decreased from 21.5 percent to 15.4 percent of adults in the last ten years, 96,000 adults still smoke in Vermont.

 

Disparities:

• In Vermont, smoking is more prevalent among Hispanics at 19.4 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 16.0 percent, however obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic whites at 23.6 percent than Hispanics at 20.8 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.healthvermont.gov