Strengths:

• High per capita public health funding
• Low prevalence of obesity
• Low prevalence of smoking
• Ready availability of primary care physicians

 

Challenges:

• Low high school graduation rate
• High prevalence of diabetes

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, air pollution decreased from 11.8 to 9.2 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter.
• In the past ten years, the rate of uninsured population decreased from 15.5 percent to 13.6 percent.
• New York has one of the lowest obesity rates in the U.S. at 24.5% of the adult population; however, more than 3.7 million adults are obese in the state.
• Although high school graduation rates remain a challenge for the state, the percentage of incoming ninth graders who graduate in four years increased, in the past 5 years, from 60.9 percent to 73.5 percent.
• Five years ago, the geographic disparity within the state was 7.5; this year it is 9.8 indicating that health now varies more widely among counties within the state.

 

Disparities:

• In New York, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 32.2 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 23.8 percent; and obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 32.2 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 23.8 percent.

 

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