Introduction

The United Health Foundation^® is proud to release the America’s Health Rankings 2025 Health of Women and Children Report, which provides a comprehensive look at the health of women of reproductive age and children nationwide and on a state-by-state basis.

This report recognizes changes in mortality among women — including a historic plateauing of drug-related deaths — as well as other advances that strengthen long-term health and well-being, including a reduction in the prevalence of childhood overweight or obesity and increased early childhood education enrollment. Despite these successes, maternal, infant and child mortality increased and behavioral health issues rose among women and children.

In 2023, there were approximately 59.5 million women of reproductive age (18-44) and 72.8 million children younger than 18 in the United States. Together, these groups constitute a substantial share of the U.S. population, nearly 40%, whose health and well-being are essential to the strength and resilience of communities nationwide.

Women faced challenges across various health outcomes, including mortality, behavioral and physical health measures such as maternal mortality, depression and frequent physical distress. There were bright spots in children’s health outcomes, including decreases in neonatal abstinence syndrome and overweight or obesity. These were offset in part by increases in child, infant and neonatal mortality. For the first time in the history of the Health of Women and Children Report, infant mortality increased.

The report also examines differences across communities, spotlighting challenges faced by women living in rural areas, who experience higher rates of chronic conditions and risk factors than their metropolitan counterparts. These differences underscore the need for solutions tailored to the unique needs of rural communities.

The 2025 Health of Women and Children Report finds that:

New in 2025

This year, America’s Health Rankings added chronic school absenteeism and postpartum anxiety to the report. Obesity among children (BMI in the 95th percentile or above) was also added as a component of the measure overweight or obesity among children (BMI in the 85th percentile and above). Also new this year is the ability to stratify measures sourced from the National Survey of Children's Health by special health care needs status. For a detailed description of this, and other demographic groups, see Methodology.

Users can explore population data by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan (rural) areas for a variety of measures. For further insights into differences by metropolitan status, look for this icon throughout the Executive Brief and Comprehensive Report.

For details on demographic group definitions and limitations, data sources and methodology, please refer to the Appendix.

America’s Health Rankings aims to inform and drive action to build healthier communities by offering credible, trusted data that can guide efforts to improve population health and health care. To achieve this, America’s Health Rankings collaborates with an advisory committee to determine the selection of a comprehensive set of measures. The 2025 Health of Women and Children Report is based on:

The America’s Health Rankings Health of Women and Children Report aims to improve population health by: 

America’s Health Rankings is built upon the World Health Organization’s definition of health: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The model was developed under the guidance of the America’s Health Rankings Advisory Council and Committees, with insights from other rankings and health models, particularly County Health Rankings & Roadmaps

and Healthy People

. The model serves as a framework across all America’s Health Rankings reports for identifying and quantifying the drivers and outcomes that impact state and national population health.