Most Indians will find this a bitter pill to swallow but we are the most ignorant people in the world, and that too about our own country. This is the finding of the 2016 Ipsos MORI Perils of Perception survey released on Wednesday.
India, which was the second most ignorant country in 2015 after Mexico, has now surpassed the latter to make it to the dubious top-spot this year.
The survey includes respondents from 40 countries, who were asked to take a quiz, and based on their perceptions tested against reality, the final report was published.
A sample size of 500 individuals, aged 18 to 64, were asked to take the quiz between September 22 and November 6. Based on the magnitude of error between the average guess and the real number for five factual questions, the index was calculated.
According to the findings of the survey, Indian respondents mistakenly thought that the number of Muslims constitute 28% of the population in the country, while the actual percentage is 14.2%.
When asked about how much share of GDP the government spends on health, most of the respondents said it is 23%. But, the actual percentage is just 5%.
Similarly, while guessing the share of wealth held by the people, the average guess of Indian respondents was that 39% of the least-wealthy hold 10% of the country’s wealth. In reality, the poorest 70% of Indians hold just 10% of household wealth.
Also, while estimating the share of Indians who have their own homes, Indian respondents were way off the actual number. Most said 44% while the actual number is 87%