http://geosurvey.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/index.html

Polled 3000 or so young adults from around the world. 56 questions, very basic. The results will startle you.

What absolute FOOLS did they get to answer these questions? Damnit... did they even know what a map was? Were they blind, deaf, and comatosed?

I'm at a loss for words. How could so many stupid people survive to become teenagers, let alone young adults.

Even simple questions like "Which city on this map is the most westerly one?" They show you which direction is North, how can ANYONE get it wrong? Gah!

Or people not even knowing where their own country is on a map!

I took the mini 20 question version, all were correct. And no, I'm not exactly a genius.

I'm going to go and get drunk. Hopefully I can forget that I share the same mudball as these peons.

Where's the quiz? I wanna take it.

EDIT: Nevermind, found it now.

EDIT2: 20/20 baby. Absolute peice of piss. There really is no excuse for getting any of those questions wrong.

I didn't know that El Nino was when drastic changes in ocean temperature effect changes in worldwide weather. And I thought Afghanistan was further west than it in fact is. Still, got the rest right.

It really surprised me that so few people knew that China and India were the only two countries with populations of over a billion. I mean, only 21% of Britons polled knew that.

Also, a full 21% of Britons could not pick out of the US on a map. And fifty-four percent of us couldn't find goddamn Japan. Argh.

I also got all twenty questions right. However, I was appalled by some of the US statistics.

That in particular astonished me. We hear about those places every day in the news. You would think that people would at least have a general idea where those places are. At least in the survey we had, the correct answer was the only country in that region. Common sense would suggest if we're fighting a war in a country in the middle east, the country in question would be in the middle east. But apparently, 85% of Americans couldn't make that connection. Horrible.

It is frightening how map skills are fading. Once, in my global history class, I was the only student who could point out the Panama Canal.

I didn't get the El Nino question, and I also didn't know Christianity was the biggest religion, but other then that I got them all and I have to say, other than the El Nino one, they were ridiculously easy. I should have got the religion one and I am ashamed of myself for not doing so.

hmmm...I did terrible. Schools don't really focus on geography or any of this. I just graduated high school and the last and actually the only geography class I've ever taken was in the 7th grade.

Well...actually I didn't do as bad as i first though. The population question stumped me though.

Only 44% of the US knew that the euro was from the European Union? C'mon, "Euro" is the first half of the word!

I got two wrong. In my old school, ninth graders took geography as a basic class and World History as an honors one. I think we had geography in seventh grade as well...

Wow...this is really depressing.

11% of the Americans polled couldn't find America on the map.

Being a teenager myself and knowing some, I think 9% of them wanted to mess up the poll, 1% got confused by the numbers, and 1% were looking at the map backwards...

I didn't know a few of them. Most of them were easily guessable though, it was multiple choice!

I took the quiz and was horrifed by teh idiotic answers. If you cannot find the Pacific Ocean on a map, you are too stupid to live. Honestly, that's taught in second grade Social Studies here in the U.S. I can excuse population, El Nino, and religion. However, not being able to find Russia, the U.S., or Mexico is a mark of such stupidity that I am amazed the people who got these questions wrong could read the test. I admit that finding Argentina or Sweden might have been hard for some people, but Russia or the Pacific Ocean? No excuse at all. The stupidity makes my brain itch. Gah. Stupid U.S. and U.K. arsebuckets. All hail Sweden and the intelligent. They'll rule the world soon, if this survey is any indication of future world leaders. *takes deep breath* I have issues with blatant idiocy.
[/ranting]

Actually, really, how important is any of this information? I cannot remember ever needing to know where a country was on a map. In the unlikely situation that I had to know, it would be very easy for me to find out.

I suppose its not all too important in this day and age to know where this stuff is. Most people have their daily ritual of, commuting, working, commuting, eating, sleeping. And very little variation.

Though I dont think that excuses the idiocy of it all x.X;

You also don't need to know that the Earth revolves around the sun, that Scotland is a part of the UK, the Soviet Union collapsed, emo hair looks wankish, or that mountains only look small because they are far away. If you needed to know you could just google it up.

I'd still say that not knowing basics like that would show a certain degree of stupidity, or at the least excessive ignorance.


It comes in handy with little things like.... oh I dunno... Knowing whereabouts certain countries are when you are at war with them. It helps in a democracy so you know if your glorious leader is fouling up. I mean how much has Afghanistan, Iraq, and even Israel been in the news and yet people don't know where they are?

I used to be disgusted by this lack of knowledge, but then I too thought 'so what?'.

So what if 11% of Americans can't find America on the map. Why would they need to? I don't know how to pilot the Space Shuttle. But then again, I don't need to.

As a small aside, no European should ever ridicule an American's lack of European geographical knowledge until they can point to any one of the 50 US states on a map. Why should I expect someone living in South Dakota to be able to point to Belgium on a map if I can't point to South Dakota on a map.

Why should that help? None of the news reports ever mention where it is. They don't start "The interim government of Afghanistan, located at 34°30′ N 69°10′ E and bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, today announced..." Most of the time you can watch a half-hour news segment on Iran and come away without the foggiest idea where it is except for "in the Middle East somewhere".

Heh heh heh
I got an A at GCSE Geography, except they were teaching us things like the most sustainable developments for Ghana (being Shea nuts of course). I can tell you that the River Akosombo was damed to make Lake Volta, and most of the hydro electricity is used by an American company to melt bauxite and make aluminium, but I probably couldn't tell you where Wiltshire is.

There is something seriously wrong with people not even being able to find their own country on a map...

I missed the question about locating Sweden on the map because I couldn't see the numbers in that area very well (my eyes have been a bit blurry all day). I also thought Afganistan was further west than it really is. I'm quite disappointed in myself.

Just a small update to this. It's a comedy sketch (I think) but the interviews are real.

Irredeemably stupid.

Yay 20/20
If only my eyes were that good.

Whilst i got rather annoyed at being called a frog when i went to America this summer (Thats the french) I do have to admit that it isnt really their fault, as no, I dont have a clue where south dakota is.

But then again I have to admit the lack of knowledge about where America is, from americans none the less, is faintly concerning. YOU LIVE THERE. Do americans not get the whole "this big part of the map is where we are" talk??

Maybe its just that it's only been a year since i did GCSE geography that has made me expect too much of people that probably havent even looked at a world map for maybe 10 years.

18/20 did not know the first two

19/20: I thought that there were more Hindus than Christians. Given the population of India I figured it was a safe bet, but apparently not.

As for 'why should Americans know where Belgium is when we can't point out where their states are' there is a big difference between an entire country and a state. Hell, I couldn't tell you where most of the counties of England are but I can point to The Gambia on a map. For me it's important to know these things because it's all part of knowing that you are a part of a global environment and that you need to take responsibility for it.

18/20. Also didn't think Christianity was the largest religion, and that Afghanistan was further west than it is. Oops. O_o

Exactly, I mean, Pennsylvania must be nearly 3.907 times bigger than Belgium, and have 1.1849 times as many people, it is obviously more important that people know about Pennsylvania than Beligium!

Seriously, I don't think that it is too important that people can locate a place, but that people know about a place. I'd rather people know that New Jersey isn't just a toxic waste dump than be able to find it on a map.

A while ago I decided to try and memorise the countries of Africa. I decided that it was pretty terrible that, at the time, I could only point out two countries in the entire continent with any certainty. I only managed to get about halfway through. There's a lot of 'em tucked in there! I'll go back to it at some point.

I find maps interesting. It's amazing the number of countries with 'Guinea' in the name. How many can you think of?