Why does Mississippi have the lowest male/female ratio of any state in the USA? (Biloxi: low income, college)

[Highpointer]

According to this link, Mississippi has the lowest male-to-female ratio of any state in the USA, with 92.6 males to every 100 females in 2005.

This leads to two questions:

1) Why does Mississippi have the lowest ratio of men to women of any state in the USA?

2) If I am a single man looking to find a single woman to get married, would I have better success if I moved to Mississippi? (I currently live in Tempe, AZ, with a male/female ratio of 106.9, the fifth-highest ratio of men to women of any city with a population greater than 100,000.)

[kettlepot]

I think it might be more important to find the M/F ratio most applicable to your age group.

As for the reasons for Mississippi's current M/F ratio my guess is that the high proportion of blacks in MS is the major cause. Mississippi has the highest proportion of blacks in the country, 36%. Black men in particular seem to be vulnerable to the fried food diet prevalent in the South. That probably takes a heavy toll on the number of men over age 50. Also, I can't recall there being any large military posts in the state. That takes a lot of men out of Mississippi and adds to the abundance of men in certain other states.

[auntbee]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

I think it might be more important to find the M/F ratio most applicable to your age group.

As for the reasons for Mississippi's current M/F ratio my guess is that the high proportion of blacks in MS is the major cause. Mississippi has the highest proportion of blacks in the country, 36%. Black men in particular seem to be vulnerable to the fried food diet prevalent in the South. That probably takes a heavy toll on the number of men over age 50. Also, I can't recall there being any large military posts in the state. That takes a lot of men out of Mississippi and adds to the abundance of men in certain other states.

We have military bases in Biloxi, Columbus and Meridian, so that can't be the reason.

[kettlepot]

Are they large bases with tens of thousands of servicemen from across the country? Or are they Nat'l Guard bases where in state servicemen go to train?

[aiangel_writer]

I would not look too closely at the census data, it has been proven that the last one was not accurate with many people not reporting simply because they did not want the government to know all that information about them. LOL, yes, I know, the government knows anyway, but in truly small communities, there are people who do not fill these things out, just trash them.

I know, the town I live in has had that problem and we are diligently working towards correcting that for the 2010 census.

[mrmurdock]

Also check out the teen pregnancy statistics. In 2000 it was about 72 per 1000. Thats high. And being weighted as more likely poor and African American compounds the likelyhood that girls who have a baby at an early age are less likely to then go to college and/or move out of state. The fact that its a relatively high rate, combined with the relative low incomes and the absense of abortions will boost the ratio. Especially if the Daddy's are more free to move across state lines.

[Highpointer]

Originally Posted by mrmurdock

Also check out the teen pregnancy statistics. In 2000 it was about 72 per 1000. Thats high. And being weighted as more likely poor and African American compounds the likelyhood that girls who have a baby at an early age are less likely to then go to college and/or move out of state. The fact that its a relatively high rate, combined with the relative low incomes and the absense of abortions will boost the ratio. Especially if the Daddy's are more free to move across state lines.

Of the twelve states that rank just ahead of MS in male/female ratio, there are only three true southern states - Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina. Other states with low male/female ratios include Maryland (49), Rhode Island (48), New York (47), Pennsylvania (43), Massachusetts (42), Delaware (41), Connecticut (40), and New Jersey (39). That's all five Mid-Atlantic states and the three southern New England states in the bottom 12.

The Mid-Atlantic and New England region has the highest per-capita income in the USA, has the most highly educated populace, and is the most politically liberal. All of these states voted against President Bush in both 2000 and 2004. The percentages of African-Americans in some of the urban regions of these states are high but overall these states have a lower percentage of African-Americans than MS and its southern neighbors. I would also presume that there is a higher rate of abortions in these states.

Therefore, your explanation of why the male/female ratio in MS is low appears to be weak, because most of the states in the region of the USA that is most dissimilar to MS have a male/female ratio that is almost as low as that of MS.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

I think it might be more important to find the M/F ratio most applicable to your age group.

As for the reasons for Mississippi's current M/F ratio my guess is that the high proportion of blacks in MS is the major cause. Mississippi has the highest proportion of blacks in the country, 36%. Black men in particular seem to be vulnerable to the fried food diet prevalent in the South. That probably takes a heavy toll on the number of men over age 50. Also, I can't recall there being any large military posts in the state. That takes a lot of men out of Mississippi and adds to the abundance of men in certain other states.

My guess is that women live longer than men, statistically and men tend to have higher stress levels. That might account for more women than men.

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by Highpointer

According to this link, Mississippi has the lowest male-to-female ratio of any state in the USA, with 92.6 males to every 100 females in 2005.

This leads to two questions:

1) Why does Mississippi have the lowest ratio of men to women of any state in the USA?

2) If I am a single man looking to find a single woman to get married, would I have better success if I moved to Mississippi? (I currently live in Tempe, AZ, with a male/female ratio of 106.9, the fifth-highest ratio of men to women of any city with a population greater than 100,000.)

Among the conclusions were record-high life expectancies in several categories:

White males - 75.4 years
Black males - 69.2 years
White females - 80.5 years
Black females - 76.1 years
Hawaii had the lowest, or best mortality rate while Mississippi had the highest.

So, black males in MS have the worst mortality rates. I would say the 2 biggest factors being health care and murder.

[agredon]

I happened across this page while doing a Google search related to some interesting numbers I noticed in the CIA World Factbook. According to the factbook, while males outnumber females [nationwide] 1.05:1 at birth, males are 24% more likely to die in infancy. While boys outnumber girls at ages 0-14, girls outnumber boys at ages 15-64 with the difference being almost identical to the difference in infant mortality. Now, at older ages (65+) the difference is more pronounced because we (males) also die younger (even when we manage to make it past infancy). I noticed on another site that the number of miscarriages is also supposedly significantly higher for male fetuses than it is for female fetuses. For some reason, we just seem to die alot more easily than girls, even when were still in the womb.