Cape Town is, unfortunately, known as one of the world’s murder capitals, and South Africans are well-aware of ever-increasing incidences of crime in the country.

Ipsos recently released its Perils of Perception study, which is based on a survey of 33 countries and identifies key issues in the populations of different countries. This study is also aimed at finding out how informed citizens of a specific country are about pressing social issues versus what recorded data reflects on those same issues.

Respondents were asked a number of questions that focused on a wide range of topics from crime to sex, and were ranked according to how close their answers were to what actual statistics show.

A number of respondents in different populations around the world were wrong about the scale of knife and gang violence in their countries.

Countries in which respondents overestimated the proportion of gun deaths included South Africa.

Here are some statistics in which South Africa was highlighted:

Picture: Pixabay

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Lucinda is a hard news writer who occasionally dabbles in lifestyle writing, and recent journalism graduate. She is a proud intersectional feminist, and is passionate about actively creating a world which is free of discrimination and inequality.