Quote:
Originally posted by Colin
By now, most people have heard that "only 13% of Americans can find Iraq on a map".
Here are some numbers for various countries and their ability to find Iraq on a map.
Mexico 6%
British 10%
Canadians 11%
Americans 13%
Japan 19%
French 21%
Italians 27%
Sweden 30%
Germans 36%
Here are the survey results.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ge...operSurvey.pdf
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Very interesting:
"When asked to identify 12 countries on a map of Europe, the average young American could locate only about 3, compared to their counterparts in the other countries surveyed, who could locate an average of 5. Only one European country ? Italy, with
its geographically distinct boot ? was correctly spotted by a majority of young Americans (64%). Just 37% could find England, despite the fact that Great Britain is the United States closest political ally."
"On average, young adults in other countries in the study were better able to locate other European countries than American young adults were to locate U.S. states."
"Like their international counterparts, eight in ten young Americans (82%) reported that they keep up with current events around the world by watching television ? either
network (50%) and/or cable (43%). However, just 38% get world news from newspapers, 13% from the radio, and 10% from magazines, compared to an average of 53%, 35%, and 23%, respectively, in other countries surveyed."
"Although a majority of young Americans (75%) also believed that it is at least important to know where countries in the news are located, this knowledge was considered less important than map-reading. Additionally, the proportion who rated it as absolutely necessary has dropped by ten points since 1988 (from 35% to 25%)."