How healthy is Howard County?

      We think of Howard County as a healthy place to live.  Clean environment with no polluting industries, lots of green spaces and a high income, well educated population.  By the size of the CA, Lifetime and YMCA facilities and the number of folks running and biking on our paths we should have better than average  health outcomes.  With an average life expectancy of 81 we are ahead the United States average of 79.  If we were a country we would rank just after these countries:

1	Japan	83
1	Switzerland	83
1	San Marino	83
4	Italy	82
4	Singapore	82
4	Iceland	82
4	Andorra	82
4	Australia	82
4	Spain	82
4	Qatar	82
4	Israel	82
4	Monaco	82
4	France	82
4	Sweden	82
4	Canada	82
4	Luxembourg	82

      At 79 years the US ranks after 16 countries including some that you might not expect.  Here is that list:

17	Cyprus	81
17	Norway	81
17	New Zealand	81
17	Netherlands	81
17	Austria	81
17	Greece	81
17	Ireland	81
17	South Korea	81
17	Finland	81
17	Germany	81
27	United Kingdom	80
27	Belgium	80
27	Malta	80
27	Slovenia	80
27	Portugal	80
27	Kuwait	80

   So how does Howard County stack up on a number of health areas?  This link from the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows us the numbers.

P.S.

   One surprise in the health numbers for our County was that a higher percentage of high schools students in Howard County smoke than the Maryland average (8.1% to 7 %).  The percentage of smokers in our total County population is less than half the Maryland average (6.5% to 14.9).  Another surprise was that we have a higher percentage of children with asthma than the Maryland average (18.8% to 14.3%)