# National Geographic survey - how do you rate with the rest of the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914 "2004-11-27T20:42:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PussyCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/1 "2004-11-27T20:42:18Z")
Inspired by this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=288251) I had to bring your attention to this little [survey](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/highlights.html). It appears 29% of Americans do not know where the Pacific Ocean is, while 11% cannot find the U.S. itself on a map. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/2 "2004-11-27T20:48:15Z")
20/20 I could easily have gotten Sweden wrong, but the number for Norway wasn’t in the answer list. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/3 "2004-11-27T20:51:39Z")
I found these questions to be a lot more straightforward and uncontroversial. I got 20/20 correct. The toughest one was Sweden-- it was hard to tell exactly where the numbers were and if one was on Norway rather than Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/4 "2004-11-27T20:54:29Z")
20/20, although I admit I got the Sweden question via process of elimination. All of those coldass Nordic countries look alike … How can people not know this stuff? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/5 "2004-11-27T20:59:27Z")
Well, Afghanistan was a bit tricky, and I can see how lots of people would miss it. I had to work my up from India. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/6 "2004-11-27T21:02:14Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Well, Afghanistan was a bit tricky, and I can see how lots of people would miss it. I had to work my up from India. Yeah, but you knew how to do it. “There’s India, so that’s Pakistan, so there must be Afghanistan!” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/7 "2004-11-27T21:02:17Z")
19/20 I missed the religion question. I didn’t think Christianity had the most followers. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/8 "2004-11-27T21:05:43Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > 19/20 > > I missed the religion question. I didn’t think Christianity had the most followers. I hesitated on that one two, and for some reason when with Christianity. I actually doubt the ability to actually measure how many Buddhists are out there. And Buddhism is not really a “religion” in that one can be a Buddhist and a member of another religion at the same time, if I recall mY Buddhism correctly… ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/9 "2004-11-27T21:08:34Z")
What I don’t get is how more people in other countries can locate the US on a map more easily than the Americans themselves. Even if you don’t know exactly where it is globally, can’t you guess by the shape? That’s weird. But there’s hope: > [@](#): > > Americans who reported that they accessed the Internet within the last 30 days scored 65 percent higher than those who did not. Keep fighting ignorance! It’s helping! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/10 "2004-11-27T21:10:35Z")
Wow, could I have made any more typos in that post… once again: I hesitated on that one, too, and for some reason went with Christianity. I doubt the ability to actually measure how many Buddhists are out there. And Buddhism is not really a “religion” in that one can be a Buddhist and a member of another religion at the same time, if I recall my Buddhism correctly… ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/11 "2004-11-27T21:12:16Z")
Afghanistan was likely the toughest question. I thought the El Nino question was very poorly constructed as well. All in all, though, that was extremely basic stuff. I got a kick out of the US respondents ranking dead last on the first question, concerning the population of the US. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/12 "2004-11-27T21:21:46Z")
19/20 Same error as **Mr. Blue Sky** , and like **John Mace** explained, I hesitated too, only to pick the wrong answer. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/13 "2004-11-27T21:22:27Z")
20/20. 'Course one of the questions was “Locate Israel”, which doesn’t really count for me… 😃 > [@This Year's Model](#): > > Yeah, but you knew how to do it. “There’s India, so that’s Pakistan, so there must be Afghanistan!” Another way is “Here are Iran and Pakistan along the shore - and there’s Afghanistan, landlocked above them”. > [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I missed the religion question. I didn’t think Christianity had the most followers. I agree that this is somewhat of a trick question. I’m not at all sure the question about “Largest Religion” is quite as straightforward and uncontroversial as the rest - I’m not sure there aren’t more Sunni Muslims around than either Catholics or Protestants, for example. In general, though, I second the “How can anyone not know this stuff?” sentiment. Anything below 15/20 merits demotion to ape status, IMO. Dani ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/14 "2004-11-27T21:35:48Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > I’m not at all sure the question about “Largest Religion” is quite as straightforward and uncontroversial as the rest - I’m not sure there aren’t more Sunni Muslims around than either Catholics or Protestants, for example. There are definitely more Christians than Muslims. Check out [this site.](http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html) > [@](#): > > 1. Christianity: 2 billion > 2. Islam: 1.3 billion ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/15 "2004-11-27T21:47:59Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > There are definitely more Christians than Muslims. > > Check out [this site.](http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html) True, _if_ you lump **all** Christians (and all Muslims) together. A case can be made, however, for the various major chrisitian divisions to be counted as separate religions (they didn’t call it a _schism_ for nothing, you know). In that case, Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims should probably be counted separately as well, though - and in that case I’m not sure what the largest group comes out to be. Yeah, I know I’m over-analyzing the question and that there are more people nominally labeled “Chrisitian” in the world than people labeled “Muslim”. Nevermind, I guess… Dani ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/16 "2004-11-27T21:50:06Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > 19/20 > > I missed the religion question. I didn’t think Christianity had the most followers. That’s the only question I got wrong, that, and Sweden. Fucking Sweden. Swedes: please swap geographical areas with the Germans, so that I’ll get that question right in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/17 "2004-11-27T21:56:05Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > How can people not know this stuff? Well, in my entire school career–public Kindergarten through BS, I don’t recall ever taking a geography course, and only take one history class that wasn’t US-centric. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/18 "2004-11-27T22:05:47Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > True, _if_ you lump **all** Christians (and all Muslims) together. > > A case can be made, however, for the various major chrisitian divisions to be counted as separate religions (they didn’t call it a _schism_ for nothing, you know). In that case, Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims should probably be counted separately as well, though - and in that case I’m not sure what the largest group comes out to be. > > Yeah, I know I’m over-analyzing the question and that there are more people nominally labeled “Chrisitian” in the world than people labeled “Muslim”. Nevermind, I guess… > > Dani Well, but then what do you do about Hinayana and Theravada Buddhism? Do we split the cults of Shiva and Vishnu off from Vedanta Hinduism? And for that matter, why should Protestant Christianity be one group? It’s not like the Lutherans and Baptists and Anglicans and Pentecostals are all in agreement with one another. Oh, and there’s splits just amongst the Baptists, too, so we can’t count them as all being one group. Clearly, there’s no way to stop this sort of thing once a person starts. The usual divisions between major religions may be a tad arbitrary, but they’re certainly no more arbitrary than splitting Christians into two (three? Surely the Orthodox at least can’t be lumped in with either Protestants or Catholics?) groups and stopping there. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/19 "2004-11-27T22:19:21Z")
I got 19 out of 20. I missed the first question. I thought the population of the United States was more than it was. Sweden and Afghanistan I got by process of elimination. Some were educated guess (El Nino for instance). Some I knew. It was a revealing survey. Glad I stood up to the challenge! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914/20 "2004-11-27T22:28:50Z")
I got 19/20. I fucked up on Sweden. I hate you damn Swedish meatballs! I do like my damn Swedish furniture, though, so it’s all good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-geographic-survey-how-do-you-rate-with-the-rest-of-the-world/276914.md?page=2)