thumbnail

U.S. States with the Lowest HDI

Name the 10 states of the U.S. that have the lowest Human Development Index.
For 2015. source
HDI measures income, life expectancy, and education
Quiz by Jiaozira
Rate:
Last updated: October 3, 2018
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedJuly 5, 2016
Times taken17,874
Average score70.0%
Rating4.37
1:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 10 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
HDI
State
0.861
Mississippi
0.874
West Virginia
0.877
Alabama
0.878
Arkansas
0.880
Kentucky
HDI
State
0.885
Louisiana
0.888
South Carolina
0.892
Tennessee
0.896
Oklahoma
0.900
New Mexico
+31
Level 47
Sep 3, 2017
Maybe we should have let the south secede, they're always the highest on these lists you don't want to be on.
+7
Level 28
Jul 29, 2018
Except for highest poverty rates.....that goes to California.
+52
Level ∞
Oct 3, 2018
Fifteen states have a higher poverty rate than California. Maybe there is some cost-of-living adjusted metric where California ranks last...
+5
Level 72
Dec 15, 2022
Spoken like someone who doesn't know California and probably hasn't even visited.
+4
Level 70
Nov 11, 2023
Source: "I made it up"
+3
Level 69
Nov 30, 2022
this traces back to andrew johnson weakening the reconstruction
+43
Level ∞
Oct 3, 2018
Before anyone gets too excited, keep in mind that Mississippi has a higher HDI than Andorra, Portugal, and Croatia.
+27
Level 88
Oct 5, 2018
Doubt this is actually true for Andorra. Likely a data issue. Having a higher HDI than the other two countries is not that impressive to be frank.
+15
Level 82
Dec 11, 2018
It wasn't meant to be impressive.
+3
Level 68
Dec 11, 2018
Agreed Portugal is one of the poorer countries in Western Europe and Croatia is in Eastern Europe and, whilst its one of the more developed countries in Eastern Europe, it’s still Eastern Europe...
+8
Level 57
Dec 19, 2020
HDI is a very doubtful source. Quality of life in Portugal is 10.000 larger than it is in Mississippi
+5
Level 70
Dec 19, 2020
I have some problems with HDI, and I don't recommend anyone take these kinds of measurements as gospel, but Portugal is one of the poorer countries in Western Europe, and and average quality of life is high across America. I'd rather live in Portugal personally but that's because I don't mind the lifestyle.
+30
Level 62
Dec 29, 2019
Stats or not, I'd rather live in Portugal than Mississippi tbh
+1
Level 51
Jul 10, 2020
Definitly lol i don't think many people would say otherwise
+16
Level 77
Oct 4, 2018
So many red states on this list.
+2
Level 62
Oct 7, 2018
Gee willikers.
+36
Level ∞
Dec 11, 2018
The same states that rank at the bottom of HDI today would have ranked near the bottom 100 years ago as well. Initial conditions explain the difference, not partisan political squabbles.
+26
Level 67
Dec 11, 2018
I feel like that is an oversimplification, but I appreciate your efforts to keep this non-partisan.
+7
Level 70
Dec 12, 2018
The causation is probably the other way round. Poorer states are more likely to vote Republican, probably because they are poorer.
+9
Level 77
May 22, 2019
It's because of racial discrimination. Black people make a lot less than white people. These southern states have a higher percentage of black people than the other ones.
+8
Level 56
Dec 2, 2020
I read somewhere recently - perhaps it was one of those "interesting facts" on this website? - that in Britain, people with Norman surnames are on average 10% richer than the rest of us. The passing of a thousand years hasn't eradicated that particular inequality. Compared to that, one century ago is the recent past.
+1
Level 70
Nov 4, 2022
names don't mean that you're gonna be richer, that norman fact is probably just a similarity that you'd find when comparing any random statistics
+1
Level 65
Oct 22, 2023
I think it's because a Norman family a long time ago was rich, so their descendants were as well.
+12
Level 82
Dec 11, 2018
No surprises here.
+7
Level 74
Dec 11, 2018
Did a quick search and as expected, the current president is very popular in these states.
+13
Level 75
Dec 11, 2018
So he fares well with the poor, which is exactly who he despises, right?
+12
Level 82
Dec 13, 2018
The GOP has been specializing in getting rural poor folk to vote against their own interests since at least the 1960s. Though never have they been so openly hypocritical as in the Trump era.
+17
Level 76
Apr 21, 2020
I'm not American, but from an outsider's perspective, I think that neither of the two major political parties in the US truly puts the interests of poor Americans over those of the financial elite and large corporations. Essentially betrayed by both sides, the poor turn to the party that they at least feel closer to in terms of social values and the candidate they don't associate as much with the political establishment, even if their choice undermines some of the minor concessions that have been made to them.
+2
Level 61
Dec 15, 2018
Lilylee, you are correct with one very important exception - the current president is not at all popular in New Mexico, which is a very blue state in a sea of red. In the November 2018 election, all statewide offices went to the Democrats, and both the governor's office and the 2nd Congressional district flipped from red to blue.
+2
Level 62
Sep 8, 2019
Whoa! A blue state made the list
+2
Level 76
Feb 24, 2021
Jeez I had to type "South Carolina" with only one second remaining. I think I must have been only a few tenths of a second away from the time running out.
+1
Level 45
Apr 21, 2022
Oops, I spent the first 30 seconds typing countries in Africa before realizing it was about states.
+1
Level 53
Aug 28, 2022
Main reason is because of the poverty within the large black community in the South.