According to the Ipsos MORI’s “Perils of Perception 2015” survey, South Africans are the 8th most ignorant citizens of a country among other citizens across 33 countries. Don’t be too hard on yourself, this is not in any way, saying you are an ignoramus. Far be it. It’s rather saying that “perceptions are not reality” as we’re wrong about some key issues and features of the population in our country. That is, we don’t know certain things, and cannot accurately tell about them.
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Before we check out what these things are, its ideal to inform you that Ipsos MORI is a leading full-service UK research company. They carried out surveys in 33 countries, 25,556 interviews were conducted between October 1st and October 16th 2015 via the company’s online panel system. Based on the findings of their research, South Africans are ignorant about these things…
1. Internet At Home
We are ignorant of the proportion of South Africans that can access the internet at their homes. We do think that more than half of every 100 South Africans have access to the internet either through computer or mobile device at their homes. But we’re wrong about that. Only 34% of every 100 South Africans can access the internet at their homes.
2. South Africans Who Are Atheist
We can’t tell the number of South Africans who are atheist, agnostics, and those that do not identify with any religion. Our perception is that in every 100 South Africans, we’ll find an average of 36 persons who do not affiliate themselves with any religion. But then, 15 persons is the actual figure. Yes, we can say; in every 100 South Africans, there are 15 atheists.
3. The Average Age Of South Africans
A lot of us don’t know the average age in South Africa; that is, the age of the average person in our country. We’re likely to say it’s 43 but 27 is the right estimation.
4. South Africans Aged 14 Or Younger
We equally don’t know the number of South Africans that are 14-years old or younger. In every 100 South Africans, those that represented us in the survey guessed that there are 42 South Africans who are 14 years old and below. However, we can only find 28 persons within the age group says the report.
5. The Wealthiest 1% Of The Country
We’re ignorant of the proportion of South Africa’s total household wealth owned by wealthiest 1% section of our country. We overestimated that they own 49% of the nation’s total household wealth whereas they own 43%.
6. Obese And Overweight South Africans
We nevertheless underestimate how much of a problem weight is in our country. But the truth is, South African women have the highest obesity rate in sub-Saharan Africa at 42 percent. And it is not just the women, about 14 percent of South African men and almost nine percent of SA children are also regarded obese according to a 2017 study.
So while we believed that just a small number of South Africans out of every 100 aged 20 and above are either overweight or obese, it happened that the right thing to believe is that the number is more than half of 100 that is 55.
If this is not controlled, life expectancy may decrease as health risks such as cardiovascular, cancer, osteoarthritis, chronic kidney disease, diabetes increase when a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is more than 23.
7. Female Politicians In The Country
We equally, according to the survey, can’t tell how much female politicians we have in our country as we underestimate the figure. We responded that only 34% of our women are involved in politics whereas the actual percentage is 42.
8. South Africans Living In Rural Areas
South Africans are thinking that there are more people living in the rural areas of the country more than there is. The percentage of people living in the rural areas of the country was rated 53 by the South Africans surveyed whereas the actual figure is just 36%. Yes, most of the people in the country are living in big towns and cities.
9. The Immigrants In The Country
We’re as well overestimating the percentage of immigrants in our country. Perhaps that’s why we were xenophobic. According to the survey, we said that there are 29% of people who are immigrants in our country. However, only 5% of the population are immigrants.
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10. Unemployed Women
And lastly, there was an average guess that 49 out of every 100 working-age women of South Africa are employed. Meanwhile, reality asserts that 37 is the fact. Only 37 women of the country are employed in every 100 working-age women.
