11 charts that show British people are wrong about almost everything
You name it, British people don't know it
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Your support makes all the difference.British people know very little about Britain - and our views of society are more than a little skewed when it comes to immigration in particular.
The Perils of Perception survey by Ipsos Mori looks at how accurately Britons (and people from 14 other countries) view society - including issues such as obesity, inequality and religion.
And it shows that when it comes to guessing how many immigrants are in the UK, British people wildly overestimate - by almost double the real number.
The research shows that the British public thinks 25% of the population are immigrants – nearly twice the actual figure of 13%.
And when it comes to immigration, Britons were even worse last year - we thought immigrants made up 24.4 per cent of the population, when in fact it was 13 per cent.
But it's not just immgration. Here is the list the 11 biggest misconceptions held by the British people.
What we think about:
What the reports says: The wealth that the top 1% own: we massively overestimate the proportion of wealth that the wealthiest 1% own. The average guess is 59% when the actual figure is 23%. In fact, Britain is the most wrong on this out of any of the 33 countries included in the study. And when asked what % they think the wealthiest 1% SHOULD own, the public say on average 20%,only slightly below the actual figure.
What the report says: Weight is a growing public health issue, but our survey suggests we aren’t as worried about it as we should be. Britons think 44% of those aged over 20 are overweight or obese, but the actual figure is much higher at 62%.
What the report says: We hugely over-estimate the proportion of atheists, agnostics and those who do not affiliate themselves with any religion – the average guess is 45% when the actual figure is almost half that (25%).
What the report says: We think 25% of the population are immigrants – nearly twice the actual figure of 13%.
What the report says: Perhaps reflecting concern about the difficulties young people face getting on the housing ladder, we hugely overestimate the proportion of 25-34 year olds who still live with their parents. The average guess is 43%, which is three times the actual figure of just 14%.
What the report says: We think the British population is much older than it actually is – the average estimate is 51 years old, when the average age is only 40. The widespread discussion of our ageing population seems to have stuck with people.
What the report says: Despite the perception that the population is on average older than it actually is, Britons also greatly overestimate proportion of the population aged under 14, at 27% – much higher than the real figure of 17%.
What the report says: We slightly underestimate the number of female MPs in the House of Commons. The average guess is 23% when the actual figure is 29%.
What the report says: Britons correctly guess that most women are in work, although slightly underestimate the real figure. On average we think 60% of working age women are in employment when the real figure is 68%.
What the report says: Britons think that many more of us live in rural areas than really do – and by implication underestimate how urban our population is. On average, the public guess that 30% of the population lives in rural areas, when the actual figure is only 18%.
What the report says: The explosion in internet access we’ve seen over recent years is well documented, but even so Britons slightly underestimate how widespread it is. On average, we guess that eight in ten (81%) of us have access to the internet at home through a computer or mobile device, when the actual figure is 90%.
The phone survey questioned 1,015 people aged 16 to 75, The researchers said: "The intention here is to showcase our findings on the gap between perception and reality and to examine why people around the world are so wrong about basic facts about their population. "
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