davieG Posted 13 January 2014 Posted 13 January 2014 Our survey said... you may live, work or play in Leicester, but do your perceptions of it match reality? Peter Warzynski carried out a snap poll... You might think you have a good grasp of Leicester's facts and figures, but do your views match reality? The Mercury hit the streets and asked 75 people, chosen at random, a series of questions about their city, with topics ranging from crime to religion. We then compared the answers with the facts, and the disparity in some areas between what people believe and the truth makes interesting reading. One misconception was that people believe Nottingham has a larger population than Leicester, with about three in every five people we asked believing our neighbouring city is bigger than ours. In fact, Leicester has a substantial 25,000 more people than Nottingham. Leicester's city mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, said: "Leicester is a city that has historically lacked self-confidence and far too often we've looked up the road at Nottingham and assumed that everything is better there. "But when you talk to people in Nottingham, they're always commenting about how successful Leicester is." Sir Peter himself is also the subject of two of the questions. We asked people to name the city's elected mayor, and about half were able to. Sir Peter said: "It's about what you'd expect, but it's dramatically more than could name a council leader. "That's the difference with an elected mayor. People know who to blame, which is an important part of election process." Other misconceptions about our city included the number of elderly people living in Leicester. The people we questioned presumed that, as we are all living longer, we would have high number of over-80s in our communities. However, just three per cent of our population falls into that category. Dr Angela Lennox, a GP in St Matthew's, Leicester, said: "Advances in medicine mean the average age of people has increased compared with 20 to 30 years ago. "But it doesn't surprise me that the figure in the city is quite low, as we have a very young population. "This figure will grow, due to better health care, but at the minute Leicester is a youthful city." Most of the information for our answers came from the 2011 census, unless otherwise stated. Where the answers are numerical, we give the highest and lowest individual answers, and the average of all the answers. CRIME Q What is the monthly average for reports of anti-social behaviour in the city? Poll answer (average): 551.6 Highest answer: 3,510 Lowest answer: 10 Actual answer: 174 The average monthly number of reported cases of anti-social behaviour – criminal damage, vandalism, abusive language and the like – is 174, much lower than people think, according to our survey. The figure is just for the city. Statistics for the entire county show there is an average of 1,086 reports of anti-social behaviour each month. Anti-social behaviour is the most widely reported category of crime in the city, with violence and sexual offences second. www.police.uk VOTING Q What percentage of registered voters in Leicester took part in the mayoral elections? Poll answer: 37.7% High: 85% Low: 8% Actual answer: 41% Our survey-takers were pretty savvy when it came to guessing how many registered voters voted. The survey found that, on average, people guessed 37.7 per cent of registered voters turned out. Official figures show that in fact, some 85,129 people (41 per cent of the electoral role for the city) saw Peter Soulsby take up one of the most powerful political posts in the country, doing so with 55 per cent of the votes. That means that 14 per cent of Leicester's total population put Sir Peter in power. UNEMPLOYMENT Q What percentage of the population of Leicester claimed job seeker's allowance in October? Poll answer: 21% High: 3% Low: 80% Actual answer: 4.4% According to Leicestershire Statistics and Research Online, just 4.4 per cent of people in Leicester are claiming job seeker's allowance, a lot lower than survey participants thought. The figure is from November 2013 and equates to 9,784 people. It is based on the working age population, 16-64. ETHNICITY Q What percentage of people in the city are white British? Poll answer: 50% High: 70% Low: 7% Actual answer: 45% The city's ethnicity is almost split down the middle. The larger concentrations of white British and white other groups tend to live in the western half of the city and the Indian, African and ethnic other groups in the east. The 2011 census shows that the white British population accounts for 45 per cent of those in Leicester. The rest of the city is made up of Asian, African, eastern European and others. The people we asked were close enough on average, guessing that 50 per cent of the population of the city was white British. However, most individual answers tended to be either higher, at about 70 per cent, or lower, at about 30 per cent. In fact, only 16 respondents got close to the correct answer. IMMIGRATION Q What percentage of the city's population was not born in the UK? Poll answer: 37.3% High: 70% Low: 5% Actual answer: 33.6% Leicester's migrant population has increased by 71.7 per cent – from 64,560 to 110,843 – in the past 10 years. Census data shows that of the 329,839 people living in Leicester, 33.6 per cent were not born in the UK, the highest proportion of any place in East Midlands. Our survey found that people's perceptions were pretty close. AGE Q What percentage of the city is over the age of 80? Poll answer: 15.4% High: 50% Low: 1% Actual answer: 3% Everyone is living longer. Hospitals are spending more on treating the elderly and as St Matthew's GP Dr Angela Lennox says, for every 10 years of your life you can add a new health complaint. This means more money is needed by the NHS to treat increasing numbers of old age ailments. But Leicester has a pretty low over-80s population of 3 per cent. That equates to just under 10,000 people out of about 330,000. Leicester actually has the youngest average age in the Midlands, with 34 per cent of the population being between 20 and 39. And just 0.6 per cent (1,800) of people in Leicester are over 90. POPULATION Q List these cities in order of population size: Leicester, Nottingham and Derby Poll answer: 1st Nottingham; 2nd Leicester; 3rd Derby. Actual answer: 1st Leicester; 2nd Nottingham; 3rd Derby. Not only does Leicester have the youngest population in the East Midlands, it also has the biggest. So, logically, we also have the most young people in the region. But our survey revealed that our perception of our size is a long way off the facts. Some 60 per cent of people assumed that Nottingham is bigger – even though we outnumber our Midlands cousins by about 25,000 people. That's about the attendance of a decent Leicester City game. And we have almost 80,000 more than Derby. TEEN PREGNANCY Q How many girls under the age of 18 fell pregnant in Leicester in 2011? Poll answer: 702 High: 4,000 Low: 5 Actual answer: 181 This category revealed the greatest gulf between the facts and our perception. We asked how many girls under the age of 18 fell pregnant in 2011 – the latest set of figures. But it's the range of answers, rather than the average, that is more telling. Estimates ranged from five to 4,000, while one-in-10 people thought the figure was 10 times higher than it actually was. The actual number is 181, which equates to 30 girls (aged 15, 16 and 17) in every 1,000. It's pretty close to the national rate of 30.7 youngsters per 1,000. When records began, in 1998, the local figure was 365 in every 1,000 girls. Last year, the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership in Leicestershire helped 12 young mums compile a book – the Good, the Bad and the Unforgettable – detailing their experiences of parenthood. One of its authors, 17-year-old Charmaine Barnes, said she wanted to contribute to explain to other young people that the fear of being judged as a young parent was a lot worse than the reality. RELIGION Q According to the 2011 census, what is the most practised religion in the city? Poll answer: Christianity Actual answer: Christianity Perception of religion in the city seems accurate. Christianity is the most practiced faith, followed by Islam and Hinduism respectively. However, people thought that more people follow Islam than actually do – 32 per cent of the population, compared to the actual figure of 19 per cent. POLITICS Q Who was elected mayor of Leicester? If you don't know the answer, then which party is in power in the city? Sir Peter Soulsby 52% Don't know 48% Actual answer: Sir Peter Soulsby In May 2011, Sir Peter took office and soon ousted council chief executive, Sheila Lock. The former Leicester South MP appears in the Leicester Mercury on a daily basis, but how many people could name him? When our pollsters asked members of the public who was the elected mayor, just over half answered correctly. (Although we did let the odd "Peter Soulsbry" and other variations sneak through). The rest didn't know. However, we gave those who couldn't name Sir Peter a second chance, and asked them to name the political party which was in power in Leicester. A quarter of those still couldn't answer, but 70 per cent correctly said Labour. As it happens, Labour won a huge landslide at the last council elections, taking 52 of the 54 seats. The other two were split between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats. Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/THINK-KNOW-CITY/story-20430450-detail/story.html#ixzz2qGkBybA5
Hollism Posted 14 January 2014 Posted 14 January 2014 The point being?... That we have the largest population in the East Midlands, but it's irrelevant because loads of them are thick as shit.
SOCCERROO FOX Posted 14 January 2014 Posted 14 January 2014 I know it well enough to know it's fairly average and thats me being polite.
ozleicester Posted 14 January 2014 Posted 14 January 2014 that too many people believe all the shit they read
Rincewind Posted 14 January 2014 Posted 14 January 2014 that too many people believe all the shit they read Or told
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