I can see someone making the argument that lumping the states together to compare cross-country GDP makes sense. They would argue the states have a common currency, a unified trade policy and there’s free flow of factors between the states. Fine.

I don’t think you can make a similar argument in regards to health care policy and education policy, the two other components of the HDI. Education policy is explicitly set at the state level, with minor levels of Federal funding. Health care policy is more mixed (old people are funded through the Feds), and its getting more federal by the moment. Historically, though, the things that would have affected lifespans were affected by state level policy.

Mississippi has a pretty checkered past, too, by the way.

Romania spent aprox. 50 years under Communism and some 15+ years as a wasted, “transitional” economy, while getting admitted into the EU more likely for political rather than economic reasons.

So I don’t think you want to play this game at all…