Indians are the most ignorant people on planet, reveals survey

India has been ranked as the most “ignorant” country of the world in what is popularly known as “index of arrogance” survey released on Wednesday where respondents from 40 countries were surveyed on their perceptions tested against reality.

This is not the first time that India has been ranked among the top most ignorant countries in the world. In 2015, India was ranked second after Mexico.

Index of Ignorance 2016

1. India
2. China
3. Taiwan
4. South Africa
5. US
6. Brazil
7. Thailand
8. Singapore
9. Turkey
10. Indonesia

For India, the sample size included 500 individuals aged 18 to 64, polled between September 22 and November 6. The index was calculated on the basis of the magnitude of error between the average guess and the real number for five factual questions.

“There are multiple reasons for these errors – from our struggle with simple maths and proportions, to media coverage of issues, to social psychology explanations of our mental shortcuts or biases,” said Bobby Duffy, Managing Director of Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute.