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Poorest is a function of per-capita income and larger economy is a function of population. You're comparing different things.

Per capita GDP of Mississippi still puts it in about the middle of the pack of EU countries, despite being the lowest among US states by some margin.

I'm sure that's true but GDP is also not a good metric because for example it includes health care spend.

If MS spends more on insulin than an EU state it improves that metric which is the opposite of what we're trying to measure I imagine.