Vermont seems to be the nation's healthiest state, according to the United Health Foundation (UHF), as part of its annual “America's Health Rankings.” This is Vermont's second straight year in which it achieved the ranking.

Unfortunately, the overall health in the country has failed to improve. Louisiana was ranked the least healthy state. A commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health said the ranking refflects the state health care professionals' efforts. Vermont fared well in several health indicators used for the rankings, including high school graduation (4th in the nation), low violent crime (2nd) and public health funding (3rd). However, the state must fight to improve in some domains, like the prevalence of binge drinking, where Vermont ranked 38th in the nation.

The 19th annual ranking was released this week by UHF, a private, nonprofit health advocacy organization. Vermont was followed by Hawaii and New Hampshire in this ranking, while Mississippi and South Carolina were rated the bottom states, among Louisiana. The top ten includes states such as Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut or Washington, while the bottom of the list includes Alabama, Georgia, Florida or Texas. The rankings are based on an analysis of a wide range of health, environmental and socioeconomic data and the information is used to score each state's standing on 22 benchmarks related to personal behaviors, public and health polcy or health outcomes.

The report also shows some interesting data about positive and negative aspects. For example, Utah has the lowest prevalence of smoking, while Massachusetts has the lowest rate of uninsured citizens, with Colorado having the lowest obesity rate. 36 states had positive changes in their overall health scores and 14 had negative changes. All in all, it's clear that everyone wants all the states to claim number 1 in the rankings, because that would mean the health system has reached its climax.