The 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy is out and our 18-24 year olds must have been asleep during geography class, judging by the results.

People were shown a blank map of the Middle East and asked to identify four countries; Iran, Iraq, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

The results were not encouraging. Only 14% of the people who took the test were able to identify where all four countries were on the map.

Individually, 63% didn't know where Iraq and Saudi Arabia were while an astonishing 75% couldn't place Iran or Israel on the map.

It seems amazing but fully 44% of the respondents couldn't find any of the countries.

From the report:

Education makes a difference in young adults’ ability to locate these four countries in the headlines: young Americans with college experience (1.6 correct answers on average) are more likely than those with up to a high school education (0.9 correct) to locate these countries. That said, even the more educated group fares relatively poorly, with less than a quarter of those with a college education able to find all four countries (23%, 6% of those with up to a high school diploma).