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Anorak News | Fact v fear: nine scare stories that make mugs of the British

Fact v fear: nine scare stories that make mugs of the British

by | 10th, July 2013

A SURVEY by Ipsos MORI for the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London looks at scare stories and the facts behind them.

These are the popular misperceptions:

Teenage pregnancy

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Fear: 15% of girls under 16 get pregnant each year
Fact: 0.6% % do.

Crime

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Fear:  58% says crime is not being reduced
Fact: Incidents of crime were 19% lower in 2012 than in 2006/07 and 53% lower than in 1995

 

Job-seekers allowance

Fear: 29% says the country spends more on JSA than pensions
Fact: 15 times more is spent on pensions (£4.9bn vs £74.2bn)

 

Benefit fraud:

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Fear:  £24 out of every £100 spent on benefits is claimed fraudulently
Fact: £0.70 per £100.

 

Foreign aid:

International_aid_daily_mail_correction

Fear: 26% of us think this is one of the Government’s top 3 expenditures
Fact: It accounts for  1.1% of expenditure (£7.9bn) in the 2011/12 financial year

 

Age:

Fear:  36% of the population are 65 and over
Fact: 16% are.

 

Religion

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Fear:  24% of Britons are Muslim
Fact: 5% are in England and Wales

 

Race:

migrants

Fear: 31% of the population are immigrants
Fact: 13%.

 

Voting: 

Fear: 43% of us voted in the last General election
Fact: 65% did.

 

Such are the facts…



Posted: 10th, July 2013 | In: Money, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink