Health Coverage and Care in the South: A Chartbook

While measures of health status vary by state, Southerners as a group are generally more likely than those in other regions to have a number of chronic illnesses and experience worse health outcomes. For example, most of the states with the highest rates of obesity and diabetes are in the South, and many southern states are among those with the highest infant mortality rates and cancer death rates in the country. As in other regions, health status within the South also varies by race and ethnicity, and Blacks in particular, are more likely than Whites to report having fair or poor health.