Country living may not be as healthy as it is cracked up to be.
A study for the National Center for Disease Statistics found that suburban people are the healthiest and live longest, city people come in second, and country residents are at the bottom.
People who live in rural areas fare worst on measures such as the number of overweight people, smokers, suicides, automobile fatalities and infant deaths. More country folk die before age 75 years than those who live in cities or suburbs. Rural residents carried less health insurance and yet were more at risk for lung disease, strokes and heart failure.
This study appears in the October 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.