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# Improving the human condition
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/improving-the-human-condition/
- Published: 2008-08-20T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:43:50.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Health, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Index aims to raise awareness of societal issues*

Santa Monica has some of the healthiest, longest-living, smartest and richest people around.

That’s the conclusion of a recently released report by the American Human Development Project, which ranked all 436 congressional districts in the country based on their general well-being.

The first Human Development Index measures a given district’s overall health and economic status and progress, using factors that include the community’s average life expectancy, education and income level.

The findings are modeled after a similar yardstick produced every year by the United Nations Development Program, which annually ranks all countries based on their health, education and income, the index first released in 1990 as a way of determining human progress.

The district topped the report’s education index with approximately 57 percent of its adults over the age of 25 possessing at least a bachelor’s degree. Approximately 24 percent of residents in the district have a graduate or professional degree, translating into a median area income of more than $45,000 in 2005 dollars.

The average life expectancy for residents in the district is 79.9 years.

“As Santa Monicans, we are fortunate on key human development indices — long life, educational attainment and earning — and on our willingness to give back,” Santa Monica City Manager Lamont Ewell said. “This reaffirms the city’s priorities for community investment in education, good jobs, healthy living as well as care for our most vulnerable.”

The report, which was funded by the Conrad Hilton Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, was sparked in part to find out the reason why the United States had been dipping in the UN index, going from second place a decade ago to 12th today.

There were some startling results in the report, according to Dr. Ed Cain, the vice president of the grants program for the Conrad Hilton Foundation.

The most shocking was the fact that California, which ranked as 11th among all states, had the widest spectrum of disparities with three of its districts ranked in the top five and one district ranked at the very bottom — congressional district 20, which represents Fresno.

“This is a very diverse state so you’re going to have a lot of diversity in data and statistics,” Cain said.

There were also disparities in the educational level of residents who live in the same city but in different districts, the best example being Los Angeles, which has both a top 10 and bottom 30 district.

452,“I am pleased that the 30th congressional district has ranked so high for education, prosperity and health,” Waxman said. “But the report also reveals the great disparities across the country between the affluent and the poor, and it underscores the need to ensure that everyone has access to health care and education so that they can reach their full potential.”

While only 5 percent of residents in the 30th congressional district did not graduate from high school, California has one of the highest drop-out rates in the country.

The organization hopes to release an index on a biannual basis, the report aiming to raise awareness of pressing societal issues.

“Santa Monica should be proud of the fact that it finds itself in that ranking and perhaps that is the standard for others to aspire to,” Cain said.

Jump hedline: Index aims to raise awareness of societal issues

Suggested pullquote: “As Santa Monicans, we are fortunate on key human development indices — long life, educational attainment and earning — and on our willingness to give back.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 20, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082008.pdf?ref=smdp.com)