1. Mississippi
Mississippi and Louisiana swapped places this year, with Mississippi residents having the most health challenges in the country. Both states scored far lower than the other three states in the bottom five -- Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma. Mississippi has ranked in the bottom three states since UnitedHealth started ranking the states in 1999.
Strengths: Low rate of drug deaths; low prevalence of excessive drinking; small disparity in health status by educational achievement.
Challenges: High prevalence of smoking; high percentage of children in poverty; high prevalence of low birth weight.
