87.5% of statistics are made up on the spot is a silly little joke that probably isn’t too far off the truth. All the time I hear statistics quoted in favour of certain arguments, but if you look closely there is always some bending of the facts. I have listed some of them that come to mind.

  1. 2% of Americans say that they met their partner on the dating website Eharmony.
    Notice how its 2% say they did. It doesn’t claim that 2% actually did this. If you asked 50 people where they met their partners, and gave them a list of options, one of which was a certain website, it only takes 1 person to choose that option for there to be a 2% figure attached to that statistic.
  2. The average salary in the UK is 26K.
    Yes, the mean average of workers may well be 26K however a tiny percent of the population earn literally millions every year. This massively effects this statistic. Notice they do not include the unemployed in this statistic.
  3. A person that has lots of sex is likely to live longer.
    Although this has been proven to be true based on statistics, the reasons are misleading. I think it could be that someone that lives alone, i.e someone that has a limited sex life is going to on average have a lower life span due to many reasons. Emphasis is placed on sex but really it could be the interactions with a partner or partners. It could be social reasons relating to support structure or it could be that ones immune system is improved when they are around many people. We know humans are group animals so why the big deal?
  4. 95% of brand X users agree with a statement.
    This is probably the most annoying one. Of course if you ask your own client base if they like your product they are going to say yes since they are already buying it! Sadly this is probably the most over used kind of statistic.
  5. 10% of Americans believe they have been abducted by aliens (Insert any other ludicrus statistic here)
    Well if you ask a bunch of random people a bunch of silly questions you are going to get silly answers. A computer term springs to mind - Garbage In, Garbage Out. Believe it or not it really has been claimed that 10% of Americans claim to have been abducted - but if this really were the case don’t you think there would be support groups and charities for abductees? A percentage of our taxes would need to go towards this, and thankfully this is one thing I haven’t seen on my latest tax bill!