A Quiz About You

In 2011 the world population reached 7 billion. National Geographic Magazine did a special year- long series on the topic and came up with a description of the most "typical human being" in the world. Let's see if you fit that category.

A multiple-choice quiz by dcandler. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. According to National Geographic Magazine in 2011, if you are a "typical human being", the following figure applies to you: "Less than $12,000". To what does this figure refer?

Answer: Annual salary

That figure is below the 2011 poverty guideline figure issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services for a family of two. In the "Parade Magazine" annual issue "What People Earn" for 2011 (which is a survey of 157 people in the US), $12,000 was the salary of a taxidermist and graphic designer. Artists, performers, and part time jobs earned around this amount or less.

A plastic surgeon in Las Vegas earned 1 million dollars.

2. If you are a "typical human being", you have one of these items which essentially did not exist prior to 1970.

Answer: cell phone

Prior to cell phones, people who needed mobile telephone service installed radio telephones in their cars. The first mobile telephone call was made in 1946. Cells and cell towers were proposed in the late 1940s. The electronics were developed in the 1960s.

In the early 1970s, the patent for cellular technology was granted,the cell phone system was proposed to the FCC, and the first hand held cell phone call was made on April 3, 1973. In 2009, a United Nations survey concluded that 60% of the world's population used a cell phone.

3. If you are a "typical" person in the world, you do not have one of these.

Answer: a bank account

The idea of banking, as we are familiar with it, began in northern Italy during the early Renaissance.

4. If you are a "typical human being", you are right-handed.

Answer: True

According to a study at the University of Kansas, the ratio of right to left handedness is 9 to 1. Anthropological Professor David Frayer is the lead author of a paper in the journal "Laterality" which interprets fossil data that right-handed dominance goes back 500,000 years. Right handedness is a distinctly human characteristic.

5. If you are a "typical person", you are how many years old?

Answer: 28

If you chose 49, you must be from Monaco. If you chose 15, you must be from Uganda. People from Canada and the United Kingdom have an average age of 40, while that of Australia and the United States is 37.

6. If you are a "typical human being" you are a member of the ethnic group Han Chinese. Which of the following nations has a minority Han Chinese population of over 3 million?

Answer: United States

3.3 million for the US to be exact. The other three choices have under 150 thousand. There are six nations in the world in which the Han Chinese are the majority. They are the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau. Han Chinese make up approximately 20% of the world's population.

They comprise 1% of the population in the US, and over 3% in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

7. If you are a "typical human being" you are female.

Answer: False

But just barely. In the worldwide population, males outnumber women by less than 2%. However in the USA, Australia, UK, New Zealand, and Canada women outnumber males by just a little. But the country that ranked highest for more women than men was the Northern Mariana Islands. According to the web site I used, in Qatar men outranked women by 307% I question the accuracy of that fact. (Vatican City wasn't listed in the ranking.)

According to: http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_gender.aspx

8. What is your given name if you are a "typical human being"?

Answer: Muhammad (or one of its transliterations)

Some of the tranliterations are: Mohammad, Mohamed, Mohammed, Mohamad, Muhammed, Muhamed, Muhammet, and Muhamet. The name comes from the Arabic way of saying Praised. More than a 150 million men and boys have the given name of Muhammad.

9. If you are a "typical human being" what is your surname?

Answer: Chang

Chang (or Zhang) is the last name of over a 100 million people and the name is 4700 years old. Garcia is the most common surname in Spain, the second most in Cuba, the 8th most common in the US, and the 14th in France. Smith is the most common name in the US, the UK and Australia.

10. If you are a "typical human being", your blood type is O+.

Answer: True

According to "National Geographic" magazine, 35 to 45% of the world has O+ blood. AB- is the least common.

Source: Author dcandler

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

A Quiz About You

In 2011 the world population reached 7 billion. National Geographic Magazine did a special year- long series on the topic and came up with a description of the most "typical human being" in the world. Let's see if you fit that category.

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