For aging Americans, well-being is vital for longevity. And for Americans age 65 and older, well-being is actually higher than for those under 65. In a recent survey, those 75 and older were showed to have the highest well-being scores than any other age group.
Though older Americans are thriving as a whole, when broken down by state, there are some that succeed over the rest. Hawaii has the highest well-being rating for older Americans, according to the State of Well-Being Rankings for Older Americans 2015 report by Gallup-Healthways published this week.
The data for the report was collected as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and are based on 177,281 interviews in the U.S., which were conducted between Jan. 2 and Dec. 30, 2015.
Hawaii achieved a 67.0 well-being index score for its older population. The categories include how well individuals are thriving in terms of purpose, social, financial, community and physical, according to the report.
The purpose rank, financial rank and physical rank were number one in Hawaii. The state’s social rank was 11th and financial rank was sixth.
Following Hawaii in second place for the top well-being states was Arizona, with a score of 65.2. Arizona was in first place for its social ranking, fourth place for its purpose ranking, fifth place for its physical ranking, 10th place for its financial ranking and 18th place for its community ranking.
In third through fifth place are New Hampshire, North Dakota and Colorado, respectively. North Dakota ranked first in the financial ranking and Colorado ranked second in the physical ranking.
“People in the United States are now living significantly longer than prior generations, a trend that stand to continue,” Joseph F. Coughlin, director and founder of MIT AgeLab, said in the report. “As a nation, we must improve upon advances in well-being, while developing new strategies to help Americans age well and thrive in later life.”
Other notable states include Minnesota, Alaska, Wisconsin and Iowa, the report found.
States that were found to have the lowest well-being score for seniors in 2015 include West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio and Indiana.
See the full list of the best sates for well-being in 2015.
Written by Alana Stramowski
