People are misinformed about most things, global survey finds

Crime, violence, sex, climate change, the economy — we’re getting what we think we know about the world all wrong, according to a recent survey about global misperceptions.

The 2018 Perils of Misperception study published this month by Paris headquartered Ipsos, a consultancy and market research firm, highlights various ways in which people across 37 countries are misinformed about key issues and features about their country.

Among the survey’s findings: People in every country surveyed significantly underestimate levels of sexual harassment. The largest gaps between perception and reality on this topic are in Denmark, the Netherlands, France and the United States.

For example, when respondents were asked to estimate how many out of every 100 women will say they have experienced a form of sexual harassment since the age of 15, in Denmark the average guess was 36. The actual figure is 80. In the United States, the average guess was 51. The actual number was 81, a percentage difference of a third.

In every country surveyed, men guessed lower than women for the level of sexual harassment women have experienced. Swedish men were the most wrong about that, followed by men in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Belgium.

Every country vastly overestimated the proportion of unemployed people looking for a job. The average guess across the study was 34 percent, a number 5 times greater than the actual figure of 7 percent. In the U.S., there was an 18 percent overestimate.

The majority of countries hugely overestimate levels of immigration. In the U.S., people guess that 29 out of 100 people were immigrants (defined as not born in the U.S.). The actual number was 15.

Every country underestimates how many of the past 18 years have been the hottest on record since 1961. The average guess was 9 years. It is 17 years.