The Public's Health

Health Data

Here are sources of statistics - local, national, global - on everything from injuries to risky behavior, spending, and insurance coverage, compiled by The Public's Health.

Health Data

Filed Under: Jonathan Purtle | Statistics

POSTED: Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 11:52 AM

Jonathan Purtle, Doctoral candidate in public health. Works at Drexel's Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice

Here are sources of statistics - local, national, global - on everything from injuries to risky behavior, spending, and insurance coverage, compiled by The Public's Health.

Local:

Philadelphia Department of Public Health: Philadelphia Vital Statistics: A variety of statistics and reports on the city’s health.
Pennsylvania Department of Health statistics: Same as above, but for the whole Commonwealth.
New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services statistics: Ditto, for the state.
PHMC Community Health Data Base data findings: Data from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey, a telephone-based health survey conducted in the Philadelphia region since 1983.

National:

CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS): National, state, and city data on health behaviors and health status obtained through a large telephone-based survey.
CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS): National, state, and city data on the health behaviors of youth in grades 9-12 obtained through a large school-based survey.
CDC Injury Prevention & Control: Data & Statistics: Data on violent deaths and other fatal/non-fatal injuries.
CDC National Vital Statistics System: Data on births, deaths, and events in between.
CDC Historical Vital Statistics, 1900-1998: Same as above, but for back in the day.
USDHHS Community Health Status Indicators: Gateway to a range and national, state, and county health data.
USDHHS Office of Women's Health, Quick Health Data Online: Compiles a range of data on disease incidence, prevalence, health care service utilization, and other health-related events.
CMS National Health Expenditure Data: Historical data and future projects of how, and how much, money is spent on health care in the U.S.
AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: Data from a large survey on health care utilization and insurance coverage.
Kaiser State Health Facts: State-level data on a range of indicators relating to health insurance, health care utilization, and disease prevalence/incidence.
RWJF U.S. County Health Ranking: Allows for counties to be ranked and compared across different indicators of population health.

Global:

World Health Organization Data and Statistics: A breadth of data and mapping tools on health indicators for countries around the world.
Pan American Health Organization Data: Statistics on the health of people in North, South, and Central America.
Gapminder: An interactive graphing tool that visually displays how statistics change over time —very cool.

Is a solid source of data missing from this list? Let us know and we'll look into it.

More resources are at The Public's Health blog.

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About this blog

What is public health - and why does it matter? Through prevention, education, and intervention, public health practitioners - epidemiologists, health policy experts, municipal workers, environmental health scientists - work to keep us healthy. It’s not always easy. Michael Yudell, Jonathan Purtle, and other contributors tell you why.