Prof. Richard Lynn: World's IQ Averages by Country

[Tryggvi]

IQ Averages [according to Lynn]

• Hong Kong - 107
• Korea, South - 106
• Japan - 105
• Taiwan - 104
• Singapore - 103
• Austria - 102
• Germany - 102
• Italy - 102
• Netherlands - 102
• Sweden - 101
• Switzerland - 101
• Belgium - 100
• China - 100
• New Zealand - 100
• United Kingdom - 100
• Hungary - 99
• Poland - 99
• Australia - 98
• Denmark - 98
• France - 98
• Norway - 98
• United States - 98
• Canada - 97
• Czech Republic - 97
• Finland - 97
• Spain - 97
• Argentina - 96
• Russia - 96
• Slovakia - 96
• Uruguay - 96
• Portugal - 95
• Slovenia - 95
• Israel - 94
• Romania - 94
• Bulgaria - 93
• Ireland - 93
• Greece - 92
• Malaysia - 92
• Thailand - 91
• Croatia - 90
• Peru - 90
• Turkey - 90
• Colombia - 89
• Indonesia - 89
• Suriname - 89
• Brazil - 87
• Iraq - 87
• Mexico - 87
• Samoa (Western) - 87
• Tonga - 87
• Lebanon - 86
• Philippines - 86
• Cuba - 85
• Morocco - 85
• Fiji - 84
• Iran - 84
• Marshall Islands - 84
• Puerto Rico - 84
• Egypt - 83
• India - 81
• Ecuador - 80
• Guatemala - 79
• Barbados - 78
• Nepal - 78
• Qatar - 78
• Zambia - 77
• Congo (Brazz) - 73
• Uganda - 73
• Jamaica - 72
• Kenya - 72
• South Africa - 72
• Sudan - 72
• Tanzania - 72
• Ghana - 71
• Nigeria - 67
• Guinea - 66
• Zimbabwe - 66
• Congo (Zaire) - 65
• Sierra Leone - 64
• Ethiopia - 63
• Equatorial Guinea - 59

Source: Richard Lynn, IQ and the Wealth of Nations, 2002

[Zimmer Mann]

I couldn't imagine being in a country where the average IQ was 59. Someone with a 100 IQ would be considered a genius. No wonder those people can't run their countries properly and are so prone to corruption and poverty. :eek:

[Katinkatze]

some of the results are pityful... its quite sad to hear that there is so much ignorance in these countries...ok its mostly due to the fact that they dont have good standards in education...if they have any at all... but its hopeless... and they wonder why they are doing so badly economically and sociially...geesh...

[Scáthach]

ive seen this before and i still find it impossible to believe that my country has an average IQ of NINETY-THREE!!! x_nono

[Tore]

ok its mostly due to the fact that they dont have good standards in education...

Mostly???

Poor conditions may have partial influence in yielding a mean IQ as low as 59, yet IQ is 40-80% heriditary, meaning that sub-saharan Africans can only attain an IQ so high under ideal conditions, which appears to be in the 70-80 range.

[Tryggvi]

Originally posted by Trønder
Poor conditions may have partial influence in yielding a mean IQ as low as 59, yet IQ is 40-80% heriditary, meaning that sub-saharan Africans can only attain an IQ so high under ideal conditions, which appears to be in the 70-80 range.

Yes, but it has to be taken into consideration that it depends on the society and the social conditions, how much of the IQ is inherited, and how much environment inflates the score. 40-80% is a good range for today's industrialized nations that are characterized by a high degree of social equality and offer basic educational facilities to almost everyone.

In the "ideal" (Communist) society, in which the brain of everyone would be ideally stimulated from the first formation of neural cells and structures until death, in which everyone would receive an optimal diet, in which everyone receives the same toys, education, and treatment, and in which all other forms of social inequality are eliminated, IQ differences would be 100% inherited.

On the other hand, in societies like the ones in sub-Saharan Africa, where food is often short, of low quality, and nutritionally unbalanced, and where, due to the lack of toys, schools, books, art, technology, &c. the brain of many people is frequently only insufficiently stimulated and developed, the environmental potential to improve the IQ of at least the next generation is larger than in the West and Far East.

Notwithstanding this observation, it shall be noted, that the racial IQ gaps have so far withstood the "attacks" by factors such as improvement of nutrition, education, social conditions or the Flynn effect; they are remarkably stable since IQ tests have been introduced. The same holds true for the "class" gaps, which are directly connected to the racial averages.

The average IQ of South African whites, for example, is slightly over 100. White university students, however, score on average about a standard deviation higher than the average of the population: IQ 115-118. As the intellectual university requirements are the same for everyone (or rather should be), one would suspect that black university students would score about the same. This is, however, not the case. When in South Africa, Prof. Rushton seized the opportunity to test 1st semester psychology students at Wits university, Johannesburg, and could establish that their average IQ is only about 84. This might sound strange at first, but is explicable, if one considers that the average African IQ (confirmed by more than 20 independent studies all over sub-Saharan Africa) is only around 70-75. Consequently, black university students, too, score on average about a standard deviation higher than their racial average.

A similar deviation has been observed in the U.S. at the M.I.T. While the average IQ of white M.I.T. students is larger than 140, the average IQ of blacks is only 128, maintaining the same gap that exists between the races' averages.

Noteworthy is, however, that when it comes to memory power, differences between blacks and whites are almost negligible. Blacks also have the ability to perform socially better at low IQ levels than whites (and East Asians). White children with an IQ of 70 or lower are not infrequently "mentally retarded" in the sense of the word and have great difficulties to understand and to interact with the world around them, while black children with the same IQ are typically able to form normal social contacts with other children, to create friendships, to remember their mates' names, to figure out the functionality of toys, and to participate in common games. Science doesn't know yet why, but IQ certainly doesn't measure all social, cognitive, intellectual, mental, and creative abilities.

[Zimmer Mann]

An excellent unbiased post Tryggvi.

[Alpine Storm]

I would like to see the following statistics

• What is the correlation between GDP & IQ
• What is the correlation between Life Span & IQ

if you look at the average brain size between the races you will see that it coincides the list of IQ's. This once again supports the weight of genetics when measuring intelligence.

I have been to Korea and can testify that although they are bright individuals, they seem to lack allot of creativity and ingenuity. Do the IQ tests measure those characteristics?

[QuietWind]

I would like to see the following statistics

• What is the correlation between GDP & IQ
• What is the correlation between Life Span & IQ

if you look at the average brain size between the races you will see that it coincides the list of IQ's. This once again supports the weight of genetics when measuring intelligence.

I have been to Korea and can testify that although they are bright individuals, they seem to lack allot of creativity and ingenuity. Do the IQ tests measure those characteristics?

IQ and GDP:
http://www.isteve.com/IQ_Table.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_IQ



IQ and Lifespan:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10004318/


And...no, IQ tests do not normally measure creativity nor ingenuity, although some aspects of IQ test may measure some of the same underlying factors which contribute to ingenuity.

[Janus]

I have been to Korea and can testify that although they are bright individuals, they seem to lack allot of creativity and ingenuity. Do the IQ tests measure those characteristics?

Well IQ tests do not measure creativity,a key point of intelligence according to Einstein,they only measure some parts of intelligence but overall I think that IQ ranking is representive.Korea,as other northeast Asian civilisations,had or partly still have a much stronger group mentality and so individuality and therefore creativity and other individual attributes weren't as valued as they are here.