Poll finds Isle life satisfies 82.4%
By Greg Wiles
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's economy may stink, but at least we're satisfied about how we live.
That's a conclusion drawn from a new survey attempting to quantify whether people are thriving, satisfied or struggling across the country.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index shows Hawai'i is tops in the nation when it comes to having the highest number of people who are satisfied with their standard of living (82.4 percent) and that it ranks No. 2 when it comes to people who say they are thriving.
Nationally, researchers found people are increasingly worried about their finances and the economy. Researchers generally found people in the south were less worried about money than places like Connecticut, which has the highest per-capita household income in the nation. Folks in Connecticut ranked second in concerns about finances and declining standard of living.
"Hawai'i is actually doing fairly well in terms of the rest of the nation," said Amy Neftzger, lead researcher for the project for Healthways Inc., a provider of health and care support solutions.
"You don't have as large a percentage of people thinking the economy is getting worse as the rest of the nation." The survey results released yesterday marked the first time the Well-Being Index results were given for states. Previously only numbers for the nation as a whole were announced.
Other Hawai'i findings included:
Hawai'i ranked 20th in saying the economy was in decline (Rhode Island was first, Texas last). But when it came to saying their standard of living was worse, Hawai'i respondents only ranked 44th. Rhode Island residents again gave the most pessimistic response, while Louisiana residents were least likely to say the standard was declining.
The poll has a margin of error of less than 5 percent and is drawn from telephone surveys taken between January and November.
Gallup-Healthways also releases national results from its polling of 1,000 people each day, and though the results can't be strictly compared with those for individual states (the national survey's margin of error is 0.2 percent), Neftzger said the states generally tracked the national trends in people becoming more pessimistic after financial markets were roiled by Wall Street problems in September.
The national tracking found that from January through mid-August most people classified themselves as thriving. By mid-November, 60 percent said they were struggling, worrying more about money and more pessimistic about the future.
Healthways said it intends to further mine the data it's getting from Gallup on a daily basis to come up with a composite score and ranking for states. Neftzger said this should be released early next year.
Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.
