To not know my town’s population?

[Lilyamna]

Bit of a random one, but I’ve noticed that when I meet people from abroad (mostly Europe) and I tell them about where I live, one of the things they ask 80% of the time is about the population of my town / local city etc. I have to say every time that I haven’t the foggiest!! Is it me who has poor general knowledge of my local area or are Europeans generally more interested in these sort of statistics?

I'd expect you to have a rough idea, yes.

Its not exactly hard to find out

If expect you to know within a thousand or so, yes.

In 5 seconds I found mine on Google. I was out by about 5000. Try it!

In many areas of the world, the town/city's population is written on the town sign, so people see it regularly and are more like to remember it.

I guessed about 50,000 - google says 45,800 from 2007 so I suppose I did have a pretty good idea.

I think mine is about 20,000...

goes to check...

21,000. Close. So yes clearly YABU

I guessed 12k and then checked and it's actually 20k 🤷🏻‍♀️

I know because I’ve googled it in the past.

Since I have been following Coronavirus stats, I know the exact figure.

I estimated my town's population to br 10k, Google says 9685 - so I'd a pretty good idea.
Did you never think to look it up OP, if you've been asked more than once?

I've seen those American town signs on TV. Is someone employed to change the number every time a birth or death occurs?

I thought mine was around £28k, and it's just shy of £15k so I was WAY off.

Actually thought our town had a high number of elderly as we have multiple care homes/sheltered housing but actually it's less than 1000.

Not sure why I put £ on that post

You've got google on your phone... it's not as if you have to go to the town hall records to check...

It's not unreasonable to not know. So long as you accept it's reasonable for others to consider you ignorant of your surroundings and lacking basic curiosity for not knowing.

I know it was close to 17k at the last census, so I'd guess close to 20k now, with the rate they've been building new homes.

I couldn't find an up to date figure for the town, just the district.

I looked mine up recently and my guess would have been wrong but in the right general area.

I don't think you need to get it right anyway as what they are probably asking is "do you live in a huge anonymous and bustling metropolis or a small town where you know everyone"

I'd expect you to have a rough idea. But, I can't imagine ever asking anyone that either.

I'd think it was a pretty standard thing to know, or at least have a rough idea from google stats, yes. It takes a few seconds to get an approx estimate.