The latest poll, which probed public perceptions across 38 countries (including Australia) on 13 different topics, also reveals a raft of false impressions. It turns out we think those around us feel much sicker than they really do. When respondents were asked how many Australians would rate their health as good or very good the average guess was 56 per cent, way lower the actual figure of 88 per cent. Only three other countries out of 38 surveyed (including New Zealand) were further off the mark than Australians on that question. The homicide rate in Australia has been in decline for some years but most Australians wrongly assume it is unchanged or rising. The Ipsos poll found just 17 per of Australians correctly said the murder rate has declined since 2000. Nearly four in 10 said the rate was higher (38 per cent) in that period while 34 per cent thought it was about the same.

We also hugely overestimate the prevalence of teen births. Australian respondents put the share of females aged 15-19 that give birth each year at 18 per cent (nearly one in five) when the actual figure is only 1.2 per cent (one in 70). We're not the only ones off beam on that count – every nation in the survey overestimated teen births by a lot. People in almost every country overstated the share of the population that owns a smartphone. In Australia the average guess was that 84 per cent of the population has a smartphone whereas the actual share is 68 per cent. It was a similar for Facebook accounts. The average guess was that 77 per cent of Australians used Facebook while the actual share according to Ipsos was 59 per cent.

But there was one question we got right. Australians respondents estimated correctly there are 75 registered vehicles there for every 100 people in our country. On that topic our perceptions were the most accurate of any nation. Overall, Australia was reasonably good at identifying social realities compared to many other countries – we were the 13th most accurate country out of 38 nations ranked on the Ipsos "Misperceptions Index" for 2017. South Africa was the most inaccurate in their responses, on average, followed by Brazil and Philippines. Sweden had the most accurate perceptions followed by Norway and Denmark. A striking feature of the Perils of Perception surveys is how consistently respondents overestimate negatives and underestimate positives.

On many topics in the latest survey - including murder rates, deaths due to terrorism, teenage births and the prevalence of diabetes - reality was not as bad as survey respondents believed. There's no doubt the tendency for us to believe things are worse than they really are undermines informed public debate in Australia and elsewhere. The findings of the Perils of Perception survey also suggests many of us are more worried about our country, and how it is changing, than we should be.