18-24-YEAR-OLDS DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT GEOGRAPHY

It appears that America’s youth are staying pretty close to home these days and consequently don’t know very much about geography.  18-24-year-olds, when asked to identify seven states on a map of the United States, can only correctly name 3.4.  Most cannot locate Ohio, and just half can find New York, according to a National Geographic-Roper survey.

The nation’s young adults don’t know much about geography because few have explored the country, let alone the world.  Two-thirds of native-born Americans still live in the state in which they were born, according to the American Community Survey.  Only 34% of us own a passport.  Only 30% of 18-24-year-olds have traveled outside the United States in the past three years.

30% may sound like a substantial number but not compared with young adults from other countries.  The biggest travelers are young Swedes. – 92% of 18-24 Swedes have visited a foreign country in the past three years..  Young adults from Germany, Great Britain, Canada and even Japan are far more likely to leave their home countries to travel than their American counterparts.

This data might form the basis for a fun on-the-street on-air bit.  After you give out the data about how little 18-24-year-old Americans know about geography, consider sending out one of the people on the show to test the accuracy of the study.  Record the interaction between the audience and show host to edit and use on the air as validation or to discredit these findings.

 Print This Post

December 11th, 2009 | Tags: Geography statistics | Category: Daily Blog