Skip directly to searchSkip directly to the site navigationSkip directly to the page's main content

Population Characteristics Health Topics

About Population Characteristics

Population characteristics include personal characteristics as well as social factors. Many personal characteristics, such as age and race, are determined by our genetics, and can have a strong influence on health status. Even though they cannot be modified, such characteristics are important to understand. Social factors include things like poverty, access to education, and availability of safe housing and healthy foods. Those social factors, often called, "social determinants of health," often need to be modified by broad social and institutional reforms.

Health Topic Data and Usage

Please select one of the above Health Topics to see more information as well as navigation links to that topic's related Health Indicator reports and the related user queryable Health Datasets. Use the above top naviagtion images to change to a different Topic Category.

Health Topic pages contain more detailed information such as "Why Important" and "What is being Done". Along with this information are links to the associated Indicator Reports and Dataset Queries. The Indicator Reports provide graphs, maps, public health context, and data tables. Many of the topics have queryable datasets that you can use to create your own tables, charts, and maps. These data query results pages will contain dataset details, including data sources and tips on how data can or cannot be used.