What Are The Happiest And Loneliest States In America?

A new annual poll reveals that Hawaii is the happiest state in America. This is the sixth time the said state has become the highest in the annual survey of well-being.

Hawaii scored 65.2 out of 100 in the Gallup-Healthways' annual survey in 2016. The survey has begun conducting since 2008 and Hawaii has been on the top list in the poll for the sixth time.

Meanwhile, the runner-up for the survey of well-being is Alaska, which was also in second place in 2015. It was followed by South Dakota, Maine and Colorado, according to Fox News.

The poll survey based its results on interviews conducted with more than 177,000 U.S. adults in all 50 states from January to December 2016. The researchers prepared questionnaires about various aspects of well-being. These include sense of purpose, financial lives, social relationships, physical health and community involvement. The team assessed their answers to questions and calculated their well-being score for each state.

In the overall scores, the states in the northern Plains Mountain West have higher well-being scores than the states in the South and Midwest. On the other hand, the states with the lowest well-being scores were Kentucky and West Virginia. They were in the bottom two spots for eight years in a row, according to Live Science.

The well-being scores of Americans are increasing yearly despite the claim that 2016 was the "worst year ever." According to Gallup-Healthways, America's average well-being score was 62.1 in 2016, up from 61.7 in 2015 and 61.6 in 2015. These are credited to factors such as the rise in the percentage of Americans with health insurance in 2016 and a reduced percentage of smokers.

On the other hand, there was a decline of some aspects of well-being in 2016. These include the increased percentage of Americans with obesity or diabetes and the heighten percentage of those Americans diagnosed with depression.