SOURCES — GDP per capita: IMF World Economic Outlook & World Bank, 2024, current US dollars (country figures) and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024 (Mississippi). Growth: real GDP-per-capita trajectory, 2019–2024, directional estimates. Living standards: actual individual consumption (AIC) per capita, OECD, USD at purchasing power parity. AIC is not measured state-by-state, so the Mississippi figure is an estimate: the U.S. AIC scaled by Mississippi consumption per person (BEA PCE-by-state, ~25% below the U.S.) and adjusted upward for Mississippi's lower cost of living (BEA regional price parities, ~13% below the U.S.). Cars built per 1,000 people: OICA 2024 vehicle production ÷ population. Tax burden: OECD Revenue Statistics 2025 & Eurostat. Reading: OECD PISA 2022 (national scores). Mississippi is not assessed by PISA, so its figure is an estimate based on the U.S. score (504), adjusted upward to reflect Mississippi scoring above the U.S. average on the 2024 NAEP grade-4 reading assessment (219 vs 214 national). Data-centre investment and inward investment per person are ILLUSTRATIVE indicators based on announced-project figures; the Mississippi investment figure includes domestic capital investment while national figures reflect foreign direct investment, so those two bars are broad indicators rather than like-for-like measures. US-state comparisons use 2025 BEA GDP per capita, WalletHub state & local tax burden (% of income), NAEP 2024 grade-4 reading, and BEA personal consumption per capita; some state metrics (living standards as AIC, inward investment) are shown only for countries where a clean state-level figure does not exist. Policy detail drawn from Douglas Carswell, "Letter from America" (douglascarswell.substack.com). Figures rounded.
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