Politics & Government

Forsyth County Second Healthiest in State, New Report Finds

The healthiest county goes to Fayette, about 15 miles south of the city limits of Atlanta.

Forsyth County has been named the second healthiest county in Georgia by the 2012 County Health Rankings, released Tuesday.

Fayette County, 15 miles south of the city limits of Atlanta, ranked first in the state and Talbot ranked last.

The rankings are based on how healthy people are and how long they live. Counties are also ranked on key factors that affect health such as: smoking, obesity, excessive drinking, physical inactivity, and socio-economic factors like; rates of high school graduation, unemployment and children in poverty.

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Forsyth was slightly ahead of Fayette County on a key health factor; the rate of smoking (14 percent, to Fayette's 15 percent), the state average is 19 percent.

Forsyth County also reports a lower obesity rate than the number one-ranked county, with about 23 percent of Forsyth's population reported as obese, as compared to 24 percent of Fayette's residents. The state reported 28 percent.

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When it comes to physical inactivity Forsyth ranks slightly lower than Fayette (20 percent, to 21 percent, respectively). The state average is 24 percent.

One explanation might be the fact that the county has 15 recreational facilities for every 100,000 people, where Fayette has seven and the state only has eight, according to Dave Palmer, spokesman of the Georgia Department of Public Health, District 2 (serving 13 counties, including Forsyth).

"Forsyth County has done a good job of providing recreational facilities for the residents there," he said.

However, both counties have higher excessive drinking rates than the state's average (14 percent), whereas the average excessive drinking rate for Forsyth and Fayette is 18 percent.

On socio-economic factors, which impact the health of residents, the unemployment rate in the county is among the lowest in the state (8.2 percent to 10.2 percent, respectively). Forsyth also had a 90 percent high school graduation rate, compared to the state average of 81 percent, and 74 percent of county residents had some college.

"Studies have shown that people who have higher education are less likely to be in poverty," said Palmer.

Forsyth County also has the lowest rate for children in poverty at 9 percent, Fayette is slightly higher at 10 percent, compared to the state's whopping 25 percent.

More than 3,000 counties across the country can use the County Health Rankings to compare how healthy their residents are. This is the third year for the rankings published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).


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