Over 60% American youth can?t find Iraq on map!

Most American young people can't find Iraq on a map, even though US troops have been there for more than three years, according to a study.

Most American young people can't find Iraq on a map, even though US troops have been there for more than three years, according to a new study.

Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans aged 18-24 in a survey could place Iraq on an unlabelled map of the Middle-East, a study conducted for National Geographic found. Only about one-quarter of respondents could find Iran and Israel on the same map.

Sixty-nine per cent of young people picked out China on a map of Asia, but only about half could find India and Japan and only 12 per cent located Afghanistan.

In general, natural disasters appear to have a limited impact on young Americans' view of the world, the study found. Only 35 per cent identified Pakistan as the country hit by an earthquake in October; 29 per cent thought it was in Sri Lanka.

Most respondents could find Louisiana and Mississippi, but still more than one-third failed to find those two states that were the subject of daily news coverage after the onslaught of hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

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There were some positive signs: Young people who go online for news and who use two or more news sources show a greater knowledge of geography, the study found.