For the first time since February 2009, the WBI Composite Score declined last month, dropping 0.6 percentage points from a yearly high of 66.8 in June to 66.4 in July. This represents a statistically significant drop. Four of the WBI's six sub-indices also declined.

The largest sub-index decline was a 2.1 percentage point fall in the WBI's Life Evaluation sub-index (LEI), a measure of how people rate their current circumstances and prospects for the future. The decline in the LEI was the first since February.

The WBI's Basic Access sub-index, which measures the access of Americans to such basic necessities as food, shelter, healthcare, and a safe and satisfying place to live, was the only other sub-index to decline in a statistically significant way over the report period. Basic Access was down 0.6 percentage points between June and July, reversing a positive trend since March. Of particular note, the number of Americans reporting an inability to pay for healthcare and medicine for themselves and their families at least once in the past year rose to its highest level of 2009.

For more on the science and methodology behind the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, please visit www.well-beingindex.com.

To download the July report, please click here.

To view in-depth well-being reports for all 50 U.S. states, 435 congressional districts and the District of Columbia, please visit www.ahip.org.

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