Wellbeing and the Environment in American Communities Panelist: Dan Witters, Principal and Research Director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index America's Summit on National Parks, January 25, 2012, Washington, DC

1. Wellbeing and the Environment in
American Communities
Dan Witters, Gallup
January 25, 2012

2. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index® (U.S.)
 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
 Launched January 2, 2008
 Outbound phone, multiple call design, all-live interviewers
 English/Spanish, landline/cell – 98% Coverage of U.S.
 n=1,000 per night, n=353,000+ per year
 1.3+ million completed surveys to date
 Reporting (n>300) for every Congressional District and
for about 188 metropolitan areas every year
 Weighted to U.S. Census Bureau Statistics
Copyright © 2011 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

3. The Well-Being Index: A Comprehensive Approach
Gallup-Healthways tracks 55 items along with others to provide leaders with a
comprehensive metric that covers six key interrelated areas of wellbeing
Life Evaluation
Ranking one’s life today and in the future
Emotional Health
Daily feelings; Clinical depression
Physical Health
Chronic conditions, obesity, physical pain, cold/flu
Well-Being Index
Healthy Behaviors (average of six sub-indexes)
Smoking, healthy eating, exercise
Work Environment
Using strengths, supervisor relationships
Basic Access
Healthcare, dentistry, safety, money for basic needs
Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
4

4. What Role Does the Environment Play in Influencing the
Emotional and Physical Health of a Community?
 Sarah Pressman, PhD., University of Kansas
 Air Pollution, Walkability, Green Space
 City Data Gathered from:
– Governmental & NGO sources
 Environmental working group
 US Census
 Center for City Park Excellent, Trust for Public Land
 American Lung Association
– Private Research Websites (e.g., city-data.com,
walkscore.com)
Copyright © 2011 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

5. Multiple Positive Wellbeing Outcomes Consistently Found in
Presence of Healthy Physical Environment
 Highly significant relationship between aspects of
emotional and physical health and physical
environment.
 These relationships persist after controlling for size
of city, average healthy behaviors of a city, access
to medical care, race/ethnicity, and per capita
income.
Pressman, University of Kansas

6. Air Quality
Worst Cities for All-Year Air Pollution: Best Cities for All-Year Air Pollution:
Bakersfield-Delano, CA Cheyenne, WY
Visalia-Porterville, CA Santa Fe-Espanola, NM
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ Tucson, AZ
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Great Falls, MT
Hanford-Corcoran, CA Honolulu, HI
Fresno-Madera, CA Anchorage, AK
Pittsburg-New Castle, PA Albuquerque, NM
2011
American Lung
Association

7. Poor Air Quality Matters
 Compared to people living in high air quality cities,
citizens of cities with poor air quality:
– Have more daily stress, worry, anger
– Have less daily enjoyment, happiness
– Exhibit 38% greater obesity
– Exhibit 19% greater hypertension, 15% greater high
cholesterol, and 31% greater diabetes
Pressman, University of Kansas

8. Green Space: The Importance of City Parks
Top Cities for % of Space: Bottom Cities for % of Space:
Anchorage Honolulu
Albuquerque Stockton
San Diego Corpus Christi
NYC Fresno
DC Tucson

9. Green Space Matters
 Compared to people living in low green space
cities, citizens of cities with high green space:
– Evaluate their lives better across the board
– Have 15% fewer headaches on any given day
– Exhibit an 11% reduction in lifetime hypertension
– Have experienced 25% fewer heart attacks
– Exhibit 10% fewer people that are obese
Pressman, University of Kansas

10. Walkability: A Tale of Two Cities
(San Francisco vs. Jacksonville)
Green = walker’s paradise Red= Car Dependent
90-100 0-49
Walkscore.com

11. Walkability Matters
 Compared to people living high walkability cities,
citizens of cities with low walkability:
– Have 12% more headaches on any given day
– Exhibit 8% more lifetime hypertension
– Have experienced 23% more heart attacks
– Exhibit 14% greater obesity
– But do have 23% fewer colds on any given day!
Pressman, University of Kansas

12. To stay up to date on our
wellbeing discoveries, visit the
Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index site:
http://well-beingindex.com/
Dan Witters
Principal
Gallup
Omaha, NE USA
402.938.6457
dan_witters@gallup.com
Copyright © 2011 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 13