South Africans are the most negative about the state of the world today – and they’re wrong
Research group, Our World in Data recently published its latest findings into the perceptions of the state of the world, showing that South Africans are among the most negative when it comes to beliefs on how the world has improved.
Our World in Data tracks how living conditions are changing on a global scale, with the aim to give a global overview and show changes over the very long run, so that we can see where we are coming from and where we are today.
The group ran a poll with Ipsos MORI, which received almost 30,000 detailed responses from people all over the world, showing that a lot of people think the world is moving backwards on several metrics – even though the facts say otherwise.
Specifically, the group found that the majority of people – 52% – believe that the share of people in extreme poverty is rising, even though the opposite is true.
“In fact, the share of people living in extreme poverty across the world has been declining for two centuries and in the last 20 years this positive development has been faster than ever before,” the research group said.
Only one in five people’s views align with reality – and South Africans are the most incorrect, with over two thirds (68%) believing that extreme poverty is on the rise.
The same trend is seen when it comes to child mortality, where South Africans tied with Argentinians in being the most off about that trend (38% being wrong).
According to Our World in Data, child mortality in developing countries has decreased with the child mortality rate in both the less- and least-developed countries having halved in the last 20 years.
Negative outlook
The research group said that widespread ignorance of how the world is improving has several negatives attached to it.
Firstly, it reinforces a negative attitude and discontent among populations, which drive many social ills. Secondly, it reflects poorly on the media and education of the countries where such beliefs persist.
“It makes clear that we are doing a terrible job at understanding and communicating what is happening in the world,” the group said.
However, perhaps the biggest impact is that it makes people pessimistic about the future, which dampens any desire for change.
“Those who don’t expect that things get better in the first place will be less likely to demand actions that can bring positive developments about,” the group said.
By this measure, South Africans are not the most negative about the future – though more than a third (35%) believe that things will get worse. One in five (22%) believe this will remain the same – while 38% believe things will improve.
“The survey suggests that there is a connection between our perception of the past and our hope for the future,” Our World in Data said, adding that these perceptions are inextricably tied to how much knowledge people have.
“Those that were most pessimistic about the future tended to have the least basic knowledge on how the world has changed. Of those who could not give a single correct answer to the survey questions, only 17% expect the world to be better off in the future.
“At the other end of the spectrum, those who had very good knowledge about how the world has changed were the most optimistic about the changes that we can achieve in the next 15 years,” the group said.
Read: Why 30 million South Africans are trapped in poverty – even with a national minimum wage
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