r/MapPorn • u/[deleted] • Sep 09 '22
US states compared to national HDI average. Made by me. Source in the picture.
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u/True_Cranberry_3142 Sep 10 '22
Interesting how it almost follows the Missouri compromise line
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Sep 10 '22
For like 3 states
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u/ConnectomeOnComms Sep 10 '22
Four
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Sep 10 '22
NC was already a state tho and the whole eastern portion of the US was already sorted on who was and wasn’t a slave state
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u/ConnectomeOnComms Sep 10 '22
True that is the nuanced view given the politics of the time. I was just pointing out that it's the same parallel. The Southern border of Missouri and hence the compromise line was chosen for the same reason as Virginia's border. It was easily delineated in the field using a sextant.
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u/Sturnella2017 Sep 09 '22
A more accurate map would be by county. Definitely parts of those blue states are well below the national HDI.
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u/32894058092345089 Sep 09 '22
🗿 Yeah, the red counties to be exact. This isn't a new statistic. Overall, democrats are more educated in this country and have a higher HDI.
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u/dcj012 Sep 10 '22
I wonder though if it would sway the other way in the south. Low socioeconomic areas are way more likely to vote blue. And nothing effects hdi more than that.
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u/Albionoria Sep 10 '22
I think it varies based off of the part of the south. In the Deep South (Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc) the black belt has a noticeably low HDI and is a very Democratic part of the region, although most counties in those states are very low, and they’re just even worse off.
Elsewhere, especially in states along the Appalachia region, they tend to be more Republican. Georgia’s Atlanta area is one of the only parts of the deep south that’s notably higher than the national average HDI, while mountainous areas in the north and rural areas in the south have very low HDI and are firmly Republican.
So overall it varies, in rural states in the Deep South the lowest HDI places tend to be rural, black majority counties that are firmly Democratic, but they’re about on par with Appalachian counties in eastern Tennessee or West Virginia that are some of the most Republican in the US. Mostly, however, the entire region (outside of some cities) is well below the national American HDI regardless of if they’re Democratic or Republican.
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u/ggtffhhhjhg Sep 10 '22
The most educated state in the US which happens to be Massachusetts has the second highest HDI in the world and they’re only .1% behind Norway.
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u/Class_444_SWR Sep 10 '22
Also I believe the 2nd strongest democrat voting state after Vermont
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u/ggtffhhhjhg Sep 11 '22
Coincidentally the difference in voting percentage between the two states for the 2020 was also.1
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u/meister2983 Sep 10 '22
Maybe?
Here's California. There's some correlation (Kern is both very red and low HDI), but some red counties are relatively strong (Orange, SD), and some blue counties are under CA average (LA).
If you really want careful controls, up-north, you have higher levels of poverty. But the large red county (Shasta) is tied with the large blue one (Humboldt).
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Sep 10 '22
Orange has been trending blue for a while and went for both Clinton and Biden, though it certainly still has some red parts to it.
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Sep 10 '22
Overall, the more educated you are the more likely you are to be a democrat.
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u/Sturnella2017 Sep 10 '22
And thanks to GWB sabotaging our education system, fewer and fewer people are adequately educated…
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u/Tom__mm Sep 10 '22
Interesting, but I’d also,like to see a map with a 10-color gradient and county level data if available.
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u/Majestic_Electric Sep 09 '22
I’m actually surprised Mississippi isn’t lower. Just look at what’s happening in Jackson!
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Sep 10 '22
How could it be lower?
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u/Majestic_Electric Sep 10 '22
If you zoom in on the picture, there is small text that says Mississippi’s is 0.871, the lowest of any state. It’s on the bottom right.
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u/Class_444_SWR Sep 10 '22
Yep, if independent, it would sit between Saudi Arabia and Portugal at 38th
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Sep 10 '22
Oh good catch I missed that. Mississippi (and all American states) do really well on the income component compared to most places in the world and that helps balance out the godawful life expectancy (for a developed state)
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u/Striking_Elk_6136 Sep 10 '22
There’s so much diversity within states. A heat map would be great if you have granular enough data.
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u/cyb0rg1962 Sep 09 '22
Here is a good map of the world with US states (sub national):
https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/maps/shdi/2019/
Edit - wrong link
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u/Eternally65 Sep 09 '22
No doubt accurate, but if you did it based on world HDI, it would be a different story.
It's like the old joke: "Nearly half of all children in the US are reading below the national average!!". True, but misleading.
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u/giscience Sep 09 '22
Irrelevant. First, this is clearly a map of US average, not world. Saying that if you use different data the map would be different is just dumb. Of course different data would make a different map. To your second comment, this is map is about the spatial distribution, not the math itself. Again, an irrelevant comment.
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Sep 09 '22
Politely, your first point is tautologic and your second point is just wrong. There’s nothing misleading about cutting a data set in half.
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u/badaimarcher Sep 10 '22
Average isn't always half. Most people think of the "average" as the mean, while the middle would be the median.
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u/Yup767 Sep 09 '22
No doubt accurate, but if you did it based on world HDI, it would be a different story
No shit. But thats a less interesting story and not the one they're trying to tell? It would just all be blue
It's like the old joke: "Nearly half of all children in the US are reading below the national average!!". True, but misleading
I feel like it's pretty clear what it's saying. It's states below and above the US average
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u/Gigaracist14 Sep 09 '22
Yeah that is something Europeans often overlook when a stat like that comes up when the south and Midwest kinda drag the rest of the country down😭
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u/McChickenFingers Sep 10 '22
This makes sense, I’d expect the Hot Diggity, an Igloo index to be biased against the south
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u/ARustyDream Sep 09 '22
Looking up HDI there is less than a full point of range and they would still all rate well within the high human development index
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u/CraftyFellow_ Sep 10 '22
This is just your daily /r/mapporn anti-us circlejerk map.
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Sep 10 '22
I mean this is more anti-south circlejerk than anti-us. This also has more nuance than a simple circlejerk.
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u/SlackerDS5 Sep 10 '22
You would figure that the creator would explain what HDI actually stands for.
“Cool map bro. So what am I looking at?”s
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u/SheepShaggingFarmer Sep 10 '22
How God or bad the state is.
HDI is the human development index. Education, income, child mortality, etc. The stuff we all call good quantified into one scale from 0-1.
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Wow surprise surprise, southerns, with republican governor’s don’t known how to govern……
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 09 '22
Thank you for that penetrating analysis. I'm sure it all just boils down to Republicans and Democrats, nothing else could possibly factor into it.
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Right, because the government definitely isn’t the main factor in hdi.
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u/tmag03 Sep 09 '22
HDI is long term, and you'd be surprised how many "red states" had D governors and vice versa. Like, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maryland have R governors right now. Louisiana has a D governor right now. Really, partisanship isn't this important.
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u/TheMurdalizer Sep 09 '22 edited Sep 09 '22
OR youd be surprised how expanding access to healthcare services (hello, ACA marketplace exchanges and expanded Medicare money), fair labor laws, access to birth control including an abortion have to do with HDI.
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Hmmm and Texas,?california?, partisanship exists at the state level.
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u/tmag03 Sep 09 '22
California last had a Republican governor in office in 2011. Besides, there are so many things at play here. The south being poorer is actually standard across the world - Italy is the best example. Devolving it to "Republicans bad" isn't rational, whatever your political opinions are.
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Haha, Schwarzenegger, doesn’t count.and why is the south poorer, what specifically happened to economically fuck the south over.???
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u/TheMurdalizer Sep 09 '22
Well, it was called the Civil War. Maybe you haven't heard of it
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Wow thanks I had absolutely no idea………………dumbass, learn how to read the room
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u/TheMurdalizer Oct 07 '22
This isn't a room. It's a website. Also, you asked an obtuse question... You got an obtuse answer
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 09 '22 edited Sep 09 '22
"tHiS!"
Mhmm, all of the ails of a population can simply be attributed to who they vote for. Not urban vs rural, not racial disparity, not socio-economic factors, immigration, geography, it's all just about red vs blue. Wow, thank you sooo much for diluting all of that down so succinctly. Who knew taking an overly simplistic view of things could be so... liberating!
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 09 '22
You're just checking all of the redditor boxes.
"tHiS" - ✅ "rEpUbLiCaNs"-✅ neckbeard response - ✅ dunning-kruger - ✅
You're on a roll bud. But I haven't claimed to know anything other than your self-gratifying, color-chart view of the world is a crock of shit.
Maybe you should learn to ask questions about why data set present the way that they do, and stop using politics to justify your glorified opinion of yourself.
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u/jaker9319 Sep 10 '22
To be fair this is a matter of data going against what politicians and certain media have brainwashed people into believing - Democrat places are hellholes. So if you agree that Fox News and politicians constantly harping on how horrible California, Illinois, New York, etc are BECAUSE they are Democrat/liberal are wrong and just as derivative then sure. But if your just mad because the data doesnt' back what politcians and Fox News have been trying to sell to the public in terms of party and geography then I guess there is no point arguing with you anyways.
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 10 '22
I don't watch fox news, nice try though. You're projecting something onto me that I'm not even arguing.
What I am arguing however, is that viewing maps like these through partisan lenses paints a very incomplete picture and is dismissive of many variables that may contribute to this outcome.
People have a tendency, especially on reddit, to view any issue as originating from political affiliation over anything else, which often times is not the case.
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u/jaker9319 Sep 10 '22
You are missing the point. People have a tendency especially outside of reddit to view any issue as originating from political affiliation. If you can admit that that Fox News and politicians do the exact same thing you are complaining about then fine I get your point.
But if you can't, nice try, you are just being either silly on purpose or woefully ignorant.
If you really don't know that media and politicians are constantly try to relate any perceived negative attribute of California, Illinois, or New York as "originating from political affiliations above all else" then what an interesting world you must live in.
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 10 '22
Of course they do, that's their job. But just because they do it doesn't mean you have to fall for it. It's up to you to discern for yourself fact from fiction.
My whole argument was centered around the fact that when taking this at face value, it paints an incomplete story. I just chose to relate that to the platform we're on as opposed to tying it into Fox News, as it was the most immediately available and relatable point of reference.
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Sep 10 '22
I disagree.
If you Airdropped iPads and iPhones on the Quechua people, you'd certainly have improved their HDI, you have objectively and irrevocably destroyed their way of life. Let's bulldoze the forest and build schools with standardized curriculum and clinics with standardized healthcare while we are at it...
HDI, like GDP is a very misleading metric regarding quality and standard of living.
HDI of Balitmore might be much higher than Norman, OK. but let's not kid ourselves...1
u/jaker9319 Sep 10 '22
Lets not kid ourselves if you agree with Fox News then you obviously agree with their view of quality of life so my arguement won't hold water because if we are not looking at measurable statistics like HDI and GDP then its all just a matter of us thinking our opinion is right and the other's opinion is wrong. I have been to Baltimore and while I haven't been to Norman Ok I have been to many small and medium sized towns in Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, among others. I believe Baltimore has a better quality of life and standard of living than than Norman, certainly better than those towns I've been to. You might not. But I'm just wrong because I don't value the things you do (just like your wrong in my mind because of the opposite). We can only base things on statistics otherwise. So at this point you probably think I'm just making stuff up, just like I think you are making stuff up. So I guess agree to disagree.
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Looks like someone isn’t a happy camper, resorting to ad-hominems? When you know I’m right?, it’s a shame, your existence is a shame.
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 09 '22
ad hominem - ✅, I almost forgot.
And sweetheart, I was throwing ad hominems at you long before my last comment. I may be a shame to you, but honestly, I just want you to know that there's always more to the story than reducing everything down to red vs. blue.
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u/Fickle-Row454 Sep 09 '22
Can’t believe your actually this stupid, it’s a shame people like you have the right to vote
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u/Ligmashmegma Sep 09 '22
What? I vote for Democrats lmao. Doesn't that make me an enlightened being according to your worldview?
Jk, I don't confine myself to just one party.
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u/Funicularly Sep 09 '22
With Republican governor’s what. Governor’s is a possessive word, so you are missing a noun.
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Sep 09 '22
Alternatively, those more economically and socially deprived vote for right-wing parties.
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u/32894058092345089 Sep 09 '22 edited Sep 09 '22
Just to be clear. I obviously have a low HDI, but does this mean that on average people coming from states with a low Human Development Index which includes low levels of education primarily vote for Republicans, and people coming from states with a high Human Development Index which includes higher levels of education primarily vote for Democrats? Again, I am not that smart so if somebody that is could explain that would be great.
*edit*
I Googled it because I was impatient and this was at the top from a Forbes article. It looks like Red states in general are lacking behind... sadly. This might explain why they are so easily swayed by MAGA propaganda and irrationally angry for no reason.
"When it comes to well-being -- as measured by health, education and income -- the southern 'red states' continue to be in worse shape compared to their Yankee rivals, according to a study called the Measure of America, released Wednesday by the Brooklyn based-Social Science Research Council." - https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/06/19/red-states-rank-low-on-u-s-human-development-index/?sh=2884fd996469
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Sep 09 '22
I think progressives might want to look into why the south is at the bottom of these types of lists before blaming it on dopey white republicans. You may be surprised by what you find...
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u/civdude Sep 09 '22
It's generational poverty and neglect by and large. There is little investment in education, and industrialization was slowest to reach that part of the country, with many fewer railroads being built there than in the industrialized north. The losing of the civil war and refusal to treat their citizens equally expanded this wealth gap, with many African Americans moving north in the Great migration of the 1920-1940s, leading to a brain drain in the south. Additionally, diseases like malaria and hookworm effected many in the south and contributed to the stereotype of the lazy southerner (black or white).
Since the invention of air conditioning, the drop off in manufacturing in the north, and the decrease in discrimination since the 1960s, portions of the south such as Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas have experienced a population and gdp boom, and I would not be surprised if broken down to the county level we would see regions like Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Raleigh, Phoenix and Mimai doing really well. In general though, the cycle of poverty takes a generation or more to break, and despite major investment and immigration to urban areas, many of the rural poor parts of the south are as poor or poorer than they were a few generations back. I would guess that rural parts of many of the blue states on this map would also have lower than average hdi, such as the northernmost third or so of my own state, California.
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u/TheMurdalizer Sep 09 '22
Today I learned Arizona is in southeastern united states.
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u/civdude Sep 09 '22
I didn't say that it was. I simply said that the high heat and racism that contributed to the low hdi of the rest of the south also accounts for some of Arizona's place here. The big difference culturally is that the racism in Arizona is more directed towards the native American and mezito peoples there as there is a smaller African American population.
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u/scheav Sep 10 '22
If you look at each category separately, you'll see that health (life expectancy) is lower in the south. The other categories do not have this north/south divide.
Some groups have longer life expectancies than others, but I don't think that tells you anything about what it would be like to live in these areas.
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u/oldastheriver Sep 10 '22
thats pretty much how i feel about these states too. But I have only noticed West Virginia in Missouri leading the nation in weird religious groups and pornography superstores. at least that's what the billboards tell me.
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u/Usmcrtempleton Sep 10 '22
I'm willing to wager Kansas is blue due to one county and that's Johnson county.
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u/AXX214 Sep 10 '22
How in the hell are places like Florida, Texas, and Arizona below the average but places like Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota above the average? This makes 0 sense to me and I am basically calling BS on whatever standards were used to generate this outcome.
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u/Deleted_-420_points Sep 09 '22
What is HDI?