By Kate May 25, 2021 This number might not be that far off . . . but only because our BODIES are good at surviving, not us. The average person thinks that if you dropped them in the middle of nowhere, they could survive in the wilderness for 16 days. Again, that's SURVIVE . . . not survive comfortably. So as long as you could find water and not freeze to death, you might make it. The "not freezing" part might be tough though, because less than one in five Americans are confident they could start a fire if they only had flint. And without flint, it's probably closer to zero percent.