Virginia’s female population – roughly half the state’s total – faces distinct health and socioeconomic challenges, according to data released this month by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). The VDH dashboard, updated with estimates for 2024, provides a demographic overview broken down by age, race, ethnicity, and sex, with new data typically released each late summer to reflect the previous year’s estimates.
The data reveals disparities in health outcomes and contributing factors across the state. Whereas the VDH dashboard doesn’t explicitly detail those disparities, it provides the foundational data for such analysis. The dashboard allows users to filter data by geographic area, offering a localized view of population trends. The data is sourced from U.S. Government estimates and reflects changes in population through births, deaths, and migration, according to the VDH.
The annual data release from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a project providing snapshots of health influenced by where people live, learn, work, and play, offers a complementary perspective. The 2025 report, released earlier this year, highlights the importance of examining conditions that influence health, including access to affordable housing, employment opportunities, and education. The project’s methodology and data sources are publicly available, allowing for deeper investigation into county-level health data.
State-level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) FastStats application provides further context. For 2024, Virginia recorded 57,934 births with a fertility rate of 57.2, alongside 58,885 deaths and a death rate of 1,141.7 per 100,000 population. These figures underscore the demographic shifts occurring within the state and the necessitate for targeted public health initiatives.
The VDH data, available for download through the Virginia Open Data Portal, includes single-race population estimates from 2010 to 2024. Researchers and policymakers can request CSV and Excel files for more detailed analysis by contacting [email protected]. The dashboard also offers PDF download options for visualizations.
America’s Health Rankings provides detailed health assessments of key populations, offering the longest running annual assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis. The 36th edition features 99 measures across health outcomes and their drivers.
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