US: Young Americans may soon be fighting a war in Iraq, but only one in seven of military age can find it on the map, and only one in six can locate Afghanistan, where US troops are already engaged, according to a survey by the National Geographic Society based in Washington DC.
The survey, conducted among people aged 18 to 24 in nine countries, also found that one in three of young Americans know that the island used on the Survivor reality television show is in the South Pacific, but only 30 per cent can pinpoint the state of New Jersey on a map of the United States.
"We were quite stunned to find out that these people did not know where Iraq was," said Mr Terry Garcia of National Geographic magazine. "It demonstrated to us not only a lack of basic geographic skills, but also a disengagement, a turning-inward, almost an isolationist tendency."
Americans scored a "D", with an average of 23 correct answers from 56 questions. Only Mexico fared worse with 21. Sweden came first with 40, followed by Germany and Italy with 38. None of the countries surveyed, which also included Canada, France, Japan and Britain, rated an A, or an average of 42.
Americans could find, on average, only seven of 16 countries on a world map, compared to 13 scored by young Swedes. One in 10 Americans could not find their own country.
The survey, conducted by RoperASW, found moreover that while young Americans could locate Texas and California, the majority failed to find eight other states, and only one in two could point out New York.
"If our young people can't find places on a map and lack awareness of current events, how can they understand the world's cultural, economic and natural resource issues that confront us?" asked John Fahey, president of the National Geographic Society, which is convening an international panel to improve knowledge of geography and world affairs.