Do you have math anxiety? You’re not alone. A new survey out of the U.K. shows 40% of people aren’t comfortable working with numbers in their everyday lives.
The survey of 2,000 Brits by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) also found that one in five avoid jobs that involve frequent use of figures. However, just avoiding them from 9 to 5 won’t help you when it comes to budgeting, insurance, and other aspects of adulting. In fact, 71% in the ABI survey says the numbers used for insurance and “long-term savings documents” are too confusing as-is, and better explanations are needed.
With that in mind, the ABI has teamed up with a company called Plain Numbers to try to ease everyone’s minds. The latter company “works with firms to help their staff present and explain numbers as clearly and simply as possible to help improve customer understanding.”
While many of us left math homework years ago and haven’t looked back, the survey noted 30% of people would welcome more practice using numbers, and 37% say they wished there were better tools online to help them figure such figures out, and gain more confidence.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.