New “State of the Commonwealth Index” Shows Measurable Progress |
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CONTACT: Amy L. Watts
FRANKFORT, KY (June 30, 2004) — “The State of the
Commonwealth Index,” a statistical composite of broad measures of
quality of life that compares and ranks Kentucky relative to other
states, was released today by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research
Center.
The Index, which includes data for the 12-year
period of 1990 to 2001, shows that the state made considerable
educational and economic progress accounting for the majority of its
gain in rank from 46th nationally to 40th between 1990 and 2001.
Nationally, only 6 other states moved up more positions in their
ranking over the time period examined. The 9 states that rank below
Kentucky are all located in the South, which has struggled to overcome
a legacy of undereducation and poverty. In addition to comparing Kentucky to the 49 other
states, the Index also compares Kentucky to 16 “peer” states that
have similar demographic, economic, and geographic characteristics.
Here, Kentucky outpaced all of its peer states in improvement in
overall rank, rising from 12th in 1990 to 10th overall in 2001. The 9
peer states that continue to outrank Kentucky have significantly
larger metropolitan areas. The Index covers 5 broad categories or subindexes
suggested by a citizen vision developed by the Center in response to a
series of town meetings in 1994: communities, education, the economy,
environment, and government. In all but 1 of the 5 subindexes, the
state progressed in its ranking both nationally and among peer states.
Only in the area of government, which includes measures of government
employment relative to the population, the percentage of women in the
legislature, and voter participation rates, did both the national and
peer indexes show decline. The largest gain was realized in the area
of economy where Kentucky moved up 7 slots nationally and 4 among peer
states. Among those indicators used as measures within each
of the 5 subindexes, Kentucky’s largest gain was made in home
ownership rates, where the state increased its ranking by 18 positions
nationally and 5 among peer states. This substantial gain in ranking
was closely followed by improvements in water quality, Internet
access, and, perhaps most importantly, poverty. Here, the Commonwealth
realized dramatic gains in the reduction of poverty, rising 11 places
in its national ranking and 4 among peer states. The State of the Commonwealth Index, according to
Dr. Amy L. Watts, an economist with the Center who developed the
statistical profile, is designed to provide “a more holistic profile
of quality of life in the state,” rather than the narrow and
sometimes misleading snapshots of the state that a plethora of
rankings now provide. Moreover, Watts added, “This is merely a
framework. We can continue to build a more refined body of data about
our state, one that will accommodate and reflect changing priorities
and permit us to examine more discrete data about specific aspects of
quality of life. We consider it a beginning, the ‘big picture,’ if
you will, one that we will continue to enhance and refine over time.” The Index will appear in a forthcoming edition of
the Center’s quarterly publication, Foresight, which will be
available on the Web at www.kltprc.net. |