You'd never know it during Mardi Gras, but according to a recent Gallup study we here in Louisiana are pretty damned miserable. More miserable than forty other states, if you want to pick nits.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which measures the physical and emotional health of Americans across the country, interviewed more than 176,000 people from all 50 states last year. The survey asked respondents a large range of questions. There were several indicators for which states with low well-being largely received low scores, and for which states with high well-being typically received high scores.

After all the cyphering was done, Louisiana scored, well, not so well - checking in as the 10th most miserable state in the country:

Here's how the study broke it down:

10. Louisiana
> Well-being index score: 64.9
> Life expectancy: 75.7 years (4th lowest)
> Percent obese: 32.7% (4th highest)
> Median household income: $42,944 (8th lowest)
> Percent with high school diploma: 83.0% (4th lowest)

Louisiana residents suffered from limited access to basic needs. Last year, nearly 9% of those surveyed in the state noted they did not have easy access to clean and safe drinking water, while nearly 12% of residents lacked easy access to medicine, both among the worst rates in the nation. Just 61.4% of respondents felt safe walking home alone at night, the lowest rate in the U.S., and significantly lower than the national rate of more than 70% who felt safe in the same circumstances. Louisiana also ranked among the lowest in healthy behaviors because of its residents' high smoking rate and limited healthy eating. As of 2010, there were 229.4 deaths due to heart disease per 100,000 people in the state, fourth-highest nationally. That same year, life expectancy at birth in the state was just 75.7 years, one of the worst figures in the nation.

Don't let it get you down Louisiana! We've still got Mardi Gras...and Duck Dynasty.

[via USA TODAY]

More From 1130 The Tiger