Q: What proportion of the total household wealth do you think the wealthiest 1% own?
People tended to overestimate how wealthy the 1% are.
Q: What proportion of the total household wealth do you think the wealthiest 1% should own?
And they thought the 1% should own way less than they really do.
Q: Out of every 100 people aged 20 years or over, how many do you think are either overweight or obese?
People seriously underestimated the obesity rate in their countries.
Q: Out of every 100 people, about how many do you think do not affiliate themselves with any religion — that is, atheists, agnostics, and those who say they do not identify with religion?
People thought their peers were pretty non-religious. In reality, a pretty large amount do identify with a specific religion.
Q: What percentage of the population do you think are immigrants (i.e. not born in this country)?
People also overestimated the number of immigrants living in their country.
Q: Out of every 100 young adults aged 25-34, about how many do you think live with their parents?
It turns out not that many people are stuck living with their parents.
Q: How old do you think the average person in your country is?
People thought the average age of their fellow citizens was skewed towards the older side. In reality the average age for these countries is somewhere between late 20s and mid 40s.
Q: Out of every 100 people, about how many do you think are aged 14 or under?
But people also thought their countries had a lot more young people than they really do.
Q: What percentage of politicians do you think are women?
Survey responders were all over the map when it came to estimating how many politicians are women.
Q: Out of every 100 working-age women, about how many do you think are in employment?
Same with how many women were employed.
Q: What percentage of people in your country live in a rural area?
People over estimated how much of the population lived in rural areas.
Q: Out of every 100 people, about how many do you think have access to the Internet at home either through a computer or mobile device?
Those in developed countries overestimated how many people had internet access. People in less developed countries underestimated.
Here's how the countries fared on their estimates over all. Mexicans (#1 means it's the worst) gave the least accurate answers, while South Koreans (#28) gave the most accurate answers.
Here's how Ipsos conducted the survey:
