Philadelphia County — which only encompasses the city of Philadelphia — has been named the least healthy county in Pennsylvania, according to health rankings released today by the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Union County in central Pennsylvania was ranked most healthy.
Factors considered in the rankings include smoking, high school graduation rates, employment, physical inactivity and access to healthy foods. New factors include housing, transportation and access to mental health providers.
Nationally, the rankings this year show that people who live in the least healthy counties are twice as likely to have shorter lives than people living in the healthiest counties. According a press release, unhealthy counties also have twice as many children living in poverty and twice as many teen births.
Even though Philadelphia was last in the rankings, it scored well in the categories of healthcare providers per capita.
