At a glance
The United Health Foundation’s America's Health Rankings annual report analyzes data on a wide range of behaviors, community and environmental conditions, policy and clinical care to determine health outcomes. It is the longest-running annual assessment of the nation's health, based on data from the U.S. departments of Health and Human Services, Commerce, Education, Justice and Labor; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Census Bureau; the American Medical Association; the American Dental Association; the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care; the Trust for America's Health; and the World Health Organization.

For more information on Indiana's report, visit http://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/2016-annual-report/state/IN

Healthiest states:

1. Hawaii

2. Massachusetts

3. Connecticut

4. Minnesota

5. Vermont

Unhealthiest states

50. Mississippi

49. Louisiana

48. Arkansas

47. Alabama

46. Oklahoma
Indiana is little bit healthier than last year according to a December United Health Foundation report.

Jumping from the 41st to 39th out of the 50 states, UHF's annual America's Health Rankings report showed improvement in multiple areas for Hoosiers overall. According to the report, the state saw a decrease in smoking, obesity and child poverty in 2016.

The number of Hoosiers who smoke declined from 22.9 percent in 2015 to 20.6 percent, which saw a jump from 44th to 39th in the category. The state's obesity ranking went from 44th to 36th after the rate fell from 32.7 percent to 31.3 percent. Despite this, it's worth noting the obesity rate has risen by 157 percent in the United States since this particular report was first released in 1990.

As for the child poverty rate, Indiana saw decline from 23.3 percent to 19.7 percent. This caused Indiana to move to 32nd from 35th in 2015.

In addition, the rate of folks without health insurance also declined from 12.9 percent in 2015 to 10.8 percent. Throughout the United States, the overall rate has declined in the past five years from 16.2 percent to 10.6 in 2016, the lowest in history of the report.

While improvements have been made, according to the report, Indiana has suffered in a few areas. Unfortunately, one of the areas was hardly surprising.

Death from drug use per 100,000 people increased from 15.8 percent in 2015 to 16.7 percent in 2016, and Indiana ranks 35th. As a nation, the rate increased 9 percent in the past four years.

In addition, the diabetes rate increased since last year from 10.7 percent to 11.4 percent, while the nation as a whole decreased by 13 percent.
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