Scientific illiterate: the sun revolves around the earth!

The link doesn't mention the Baltic countries - it says the Nordic countries are in the lead, specifically Sweden. Interestingly, in a study of scientific literacy done in 2005 (by Jon D. Miller of the Feinberg School of Medicine - here), Sweden was the only country in Europe to outperform the USA, with 35% of adults counting as scientifically literate, according to the standards of the study. The figure for the USA was 28%, and for Denmark 22% (and for Great Britain 14%, in case anyone's interested).I think the information for this came from the Eurobarometer survey into scientific attitudes done in 2005. This is interesting to look at, because many of the same questions were asked as in the American survey. Specifically, 'the Sun goes around the earth, True or False'. 29% of Europeans answered 'true', performing worse than the USA.So, seeing as hotjer's claiming such problems don't exist in Denmark, let's look at Denmark's results specifically. (Full survey details here)35% of Danes think the Sun goes around the earth
37% of Danes think electrons are bigger than atoms
14% of Danes think humans lived alongside dinosaurs
42% of Danes think antibiotics can treat viruses
30% of Danes think lasers work by focusing sound waves
21% of Danes think all radioactivity is man made
23% of Danes think it takes a month for the earth to go round the SunThis isn't a complete list, just the answers I found funniest. Anyway, I think it's clear that, however much we all enjoy pointing at Americans and laughing at them for being ignorant and simple-minded, in reality we're all at least as stupid as they are.

You know, whenever I read these tales of the general public's ignorance, I always hope that at least some of those answering incorrectly are actually answering correctly, but very pedantically. For example: 'Yes, the earliest men did coexist with dinosaurs - ducks, pigeons, hornbills etc.'

Well, obviously I only listed the questions that a significant number got wrong. There are questions about continental drift, or oxygen coming from plants, that almost everyone gets right. You can take heart in the fact that every single Dane surveyed got at least one question right. On this metric, the Turks were the worst perfomers, with 4% getting every single question wrong. They're 50/50, true or false questions - surely these people must have been failing on purpose!