Surprising stats

[Dave A]

South Africa is the sole producer of the Mercedes Benz C Class, right hand drive vehicles (www.southafrica.net)

[Dave A]

There are roughly 3.2 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa. Those who have been living in South Africa for five years or more have been granted permission to vote in the upcoming elections.

Given the spat about non-resident South Africans, this really did come as a surprise. And I thought you had to be a South African citizen to vote.

[duncan drennan]

AFD!

Got me too, till I thought about it.

[Dave A]

74% of urban South Africans agree with the statement 'A lot of police are criminals themselves'. (Future Fact 2008)

Pretty sad, really.

[Dave A]

81% of South African adults voted in the 1994 national elections. For the 2009 elections the figure is roughly 59%. (StatsSA, IEC)

I suppose there are a lot of people who never registered as voters then.

[Frankincense]

...when "making your mark" dawns as "recieving your mark".....I expect mass exodus...revolution!

[Dave A]

There are 20.2 million youngsters (aged 0-19) in South Africa. 73% live in the same household as their mother. 34% live with both their mother and father. (GHS 2007)

Pretty sad

[Dave A]

There are an estimated 10,000 child labourers in South Africa (this excludes children in sexual slavery), most of which are trafficked into slave like conditions. (Anex CDW, 2008)

[Dave A]

71% of South African adults watched SABC1 in the past seven days. 16% watched no TV at all. (AMPS 2008B RA)

[Marq]

71% of South African adults watched SABC1 in the past seven days

This stat comes from a survey completed during the last Kaizer Chiefs/Pirates game screened on SABC1, in a shebeen, in Soweto and then extrapolated over the whole country.

The second stat comes from the same pub survey where Celtic supporter were interviewed who would never admit to watching the opposition teams in action.

The missing 13% were Man united fans waiting for their game to screen on Mnet.

(Source AMPS 2009 - Thats is of Course the well known - Alternate Marq Perceived Statistics)

[Dave A]

Marq, you're a bloody genius

[Superscenic]

I also think 90% of statistics are made up. What is the person paid to walk around and interview people doing sitting on his behind in a shebeen watching soccer?

I think my belief is most people would rather sit on their behind making up numbers than actually go door to door (weather permitting) in sometimes dodgy areas.

[Graeme]

These stats are usually compiled from sample data - and outfits taking samples have to be damn careful how and when they pose the questions; for instance if I had to take a sample about attitudes to the death penalty, I could probably get two different answers in the same stretch of road: Knock on doors at 9.00 am and the chances are good that the door will be opened by a young mother with a child on her hip and another clutching at her skirts - there she is, full of love for her children and the world at large - ask about the death penalty and she will freak out: "No,no,no, never ever!" Go to the same address at 7.00pm and the door will be opened by hubby who has had a bad day at the office and an ulcerous drive home and his first scotch has not even begun to calm him down - "death penalty - hell yes - hang the bastards"

[Dave A]

And to support the risk of sample data not always giving an accurate result...

Vodacom says it has 26.45 million South African subscribers. The AMPS survey estimates the figure to be 10.1 million. (Vodacom press release dated 27 January 2009, AMPS 2008B RA)

[Marq]

Almost the same as the number of clients I have....remarkable!