Iowans — sometimes especially Clintonians — often have a glass half-empty attitude about our state. Cheer up, we are definitely in the first world and are way better off than lots of the US. Below is a map of US states and how they rank according to the UN Human Development Index.
Values: +.950 are Scandinavian levels, 900-949 are Western European rankings, 850-899 puts one in company with Argentina Cuba(!) Uruguay and Eastern Europe, 800-849 is Russia, Albania, Brazil and Panama country, 750-799 is China, Thailand, Iran and Turkey.
So, Iowans you are in company with Denmark, Spain and Austria. Mississippi you are right in there with Turkey.
H/T The Daily Dish. Full List at Map Scroll
Update, 5.21.09:John Deeth in Iowa City picks up on the map and takes it to its logical conclusion vis a vis voting trends. But Andrew Gelman over at FiveThirtyEight takes issue with the map. He says that there is no substantial state-to-state differences in two of the key factors in determining the HDI — life expectancy at birth and education — and thus the differences that emerge are pretty much along per-capita gross domestic product.
