10 Things About Louisiana That We Would Love to Change

Helllllo 2020! A new beginning, a fresh start, a new year and decade. Time to re-evaluate some things we've been doing wrong, and maybe ramp up the things we've been doing right!

Louisiana is an amazing place to live, but like everywhere else, we could use some improvement in some aspects. Only in Louisiana found some stats on our beautiful state that we would love to see go away. Some of them are recent, and some have only been confirmed in years past. They are listed below. We can do better, and I have confidence that we will. Here's to a great start to the new year for Louisiana, and all of our wonderful residents.

• Louisiana is 46th in the country for occupational hazard deaths. Fatalities occur at 7.6 per 100,000 workers in mostly transportation, utilities, trade, construction and business services
• In a 25 year span - 1985-2020 - we lost 16.57 square miles a year of wetlands
• We are 48th in the nation for infant mortality's, with a rate of 8.4 per 1,000 births
• We are 45th in the USA for high school graduations.
• We have a violent crime rate of 518.5 per 100,000, making us 46th in the nation
• Louisiana ranks dead last for obesity in the country
• We are also 50th in the nation for childhood poverty
• About 24% of Louisiana citizens smoke, making us 46th in the USA for smokers
• Tiger shrimp from southeast Asia have been spotted in our waterways. This invasive species is not good news for our local shrimpers
• There are almost half as many alligators as there are people in Louisiana.