Mississippi holds the title of least livable state in the United States. and a recent report from a Mississippi State University student attempts to explain why the state ranks so poorly.
Stephen Cottrell, a graduate student in geosciences and the assistant director of the International Institute, has written a thesis on why Mississippi ranks poorly compared to other states in the nation. For the past 17 years, the British Broadcasting Corporation has named Mississippi one of the least livable states based on a set of 44 criteria by Morgan Quitno Press.
Cottrell said lack of education is harmful to Mississippi’s quality of life because it damages civic participation through voting.
“Education is the secret,” Cottrell said. “Academia is a wonderful thing, but it tends to stay in academia.”
He said he believes people need to be educated so they can challenge the system respectfully. He also said it is important for students to be aware of Mississippi’s ranking because college students are going to be the leaders of this state, and as of now it ranks below the national average for people with a college education.
Some of the factors used in determining the ranking include crime rate, tax percentages, teen pregnancy rate, percentage of population with no health insurance, poverty rate, household and personal incomes and unemployment rate.
According to Cottrell’s research, Mississippi had the lowest median household income of any state in 2009 and has a majority of the nation’s consistently poor counties.
Although the state ranks poorly in this poll, Cottrell’s study found some positives for the state. For example, he has found interpersonal sensitivity in Mississippi is above average based on culture shock inventories, which measure the unease felt in foreign enviornments, he has conducted in his classes.  He said he has hope the rankings will one day improve.
“I think the possibility is there … if the climate and culture reach a tipping point,” Cottrell said. “A progressive leadership could certainly be an asset to improvement.”
According to Cottrell’s report, two of the factors contributing to the state’s less than satisfactory ranking relate to health and taxes. In 2010, Mississippi was ranked the unhealthiest state for the ninth consecutive year by America’s Health Rankings and ties for second highest sales tax, 7 percent, in the nation while having the third lowest tobacco tax.
Sid Salter, journalist in residence at MSU, said there are two sides to the debate over taxes and whether or not they contribute to the state’s low livability ranking.
“Taxes that penalize the rich are said to be progressive,” he said. “Any tax that taxes the poor as same as the rich is said to be regressive.”
Salter said approximately 42 or 43 percent of all state revenue comes from sales taxes. Some citizens believe the current tax plan is a moral dilemma and should be altered, while others believe lowering the sales tax on food could be too big of a shock to the state’s revenue.
He said Mississippi has historically had high sales taxes. Sales taxes were instituted to ensure poor whites and African Americans would have to pay taxes, and property taxes were kept low for the same reason.
In addition to heavy taxes our overall health lags behind other states, Salter said.
Arthur Cosby, director of the Social Science Research Center at MSU and Giles Distinguished Professor, said although the state could definitely have a better, improved health care system in place, a great deal of health problems can be attributed to lifestyle choices.
“I think it is factors like smoking, not exercising and environmental factors in Mississippi that are most damaging,” he said.
Cosby said behavior is a big part of our health, with only 10 percent of a person’s longevity determined by doctors. The rest is the individual’s responsibility.
He said smoking is higher in Mississippi than in other states, and the habit is the number one preventable cause of death with 400,000 deaths caused annually directly and indirectly due to smoking. Many researchers believe obesity is equally dangerous to a person’s health and both factors are preventable.