Barrow County is ranked 44th among Georgia's 159 counties, according to a study released this week by University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The rankings show that how long and how well people live depends on multiple factors, including rates of smoking, education and access to healthy food, a news release says. The rankings also help to lay groundwork for governors, mayors, business leaders and citizens to take action to improve health.

Some national trends this year, according to www.countyhealthrankings.org, show the following:

• Child poverty rates have not improved since 2000, with more than one in five children living in poverty.
• Violent crime has decreased by almost 50 percent over the past two decades.
• The counties where people don’t live as long and don’t feel as well have the highest rates of smoking, teen births, and physical inactivity, as well as more preventable hospital stays.
• Teen birth rates are more than twice as high in the least healthy counties than in the healthiest counties.

Here's how Barrow's ranking compares to a few of its neighboring counties:

2013 County Health Rankings

To search for results for other Georgia counties, click here, or compare data to other states.

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