Population of Mississippi 2021

Population

According to the 2010 census, there were 2,967,297 residents in Mississippi, of which 57.3 percent were white, 37.5 percent black and African-American, 0.6 percent Native American, 1.0 percent Asian, 3.0 percent Hispanic. Mississippi is the state with the highest percentage of black people.

The living conditions of the residents of Mississippi are rather poor compared to other states. In 2009, the state ranked last in the United States for poverty, access to good health care, education and life expectancy. One in five people lives below the national poverty line, which was $ 22,000 for a family of four in 2010. In some counties, up to 48 percent of the population live below this poverty line.

Mississippi was the site of race riots in the 20th century. Numerous black people were lynched without the perpetrators being prosecuted. Due to the poor economic conditions and the lack of legal security, many blacks emigrated to the northern states between 1910 and 1970.

In 1956 the Southern Manifesto was drawn up, a letter of protest against racial integration that was also signed by numerous Mississippi politicians. In the course of the investigation into the murders of three civil rights activists, authorities found other bodies of murdered blacks in Neshoba County. In this regard, Mississippi Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. refused to cooperate with the authorities and suspected the missing activists to be in Cuba. In 1962 a riot broke out in what became known as the Ole Miss Riots.

From the perspective of fighters for equality, the state remained one of the most backward. On June 12, 1967, a ruling by the US Supreme Court forced Mississippi to permit mixed marriages, which were previously prohibited by law; the state was one of 16 stragglers.

Top Counties by Population in Mississippi