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IQ scores by Country

Enter an answer into the box. I make no claim to accuracy. Here's the website. http://www.photius.com/rankings/national_iq_scores_country_ranks.html Its been nine years since I updated this and I changed my source; https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php And the accuracy and usefulness is still to be questioned. All countries with a reported average IQ above 100 are included and I'm not taking #8 seriously.
Quiz by hwes
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Last updated: July 21, 2022
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First submittedJune 16, 2013
Times taken341
Average score80.0%
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Asia (108)
Singapore
Asia (106)
Taiwan
Asia (106)
South Korea
Asia (105)
Japan
Asia (104)
China
Europe (102)
Switzerland
Europe (102)
Netherlands
Asia (102)
North Korea
Hint
Answer
Europe (101)
Iceland
Europe (101)
Finland
North American (101)
Canada
Europe (100)
Belgium
Europe (100)
Germany
Europe (100)
Austria
Oceania (100)
New Zealand
+1
Level 82
Jun 16, 2013
This is from the book IQ and the Wealth of Nations. Controversial book, to say the least. There have never been any studies into IQ scores across the world, the book was largely speculative. In addition to serious critiques of methodology, there were also allegations of a racist agenda by the authors to confirm the stereotype of "Whites" and East Asians as smart and all others as dumb. Among the conclusions drawn in the book was one that if you only counted "Whites" and Asians in the USA then the average IQ there jumps up to 104 or 106.

Incidentally any IQ test, if calibrated and administered correctly should come up with an average of 100.

+1
Level 82
Jun 16, 2013
Also, even if we are to assume the data is accurate, there is an 8-way tie for 8th place and you only included 2 of those 8.
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Level 85
Jun 17, 2013
I agree. IQ test are questionable in terms of worth and accuracy. In general, scores have increased over the past century not because we are smarter but simply because people have become more familiar with the test format through earlier and longer schooling. Given this, the list is somewhat surprising with the lack of Scandinavian countries. I would like to have included more countries but I have yet to figure out how to expand beyond default 15 boxes.
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Level 82
Jun 22, 2013
Using the quiz editor can be tricky but that part is simple. Just look over to the right. There should be buttons to add/delete rows and columns.
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Level 82
Jun 22, 2013
Also, I wouldn't say the ordering is that surprising, really. I mean... if you look at the numbers they came up with... aside from a couple outliers.. the top-ranked countries all fell within the range of 97-102. Every Scandanavian country was in that range, as were almost all European countries, the USA, and Canada. The difference between these scores is pretty negligible. A lot of IQ tests don't even give out scores that end in something other than a 5 or 0. As mentioned, if an IQ test is fair and correctly calibrated and administered the average score should be 100. 95% of all people should score between 70 and 130. So... 98 vs. 99 is pretty meaningless. Lynn's data from this book makes 100 seem like a high score, and the international average significantly lower than that. The few outliers on the high end (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong) are small highly urbanized countries that put a lot of emphasis on taking tests. Norway's much lauded education system is not so test-centric.
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Level 82
Jun 22, 2013
I would say that the countries that scored around 100 are not places where people are any smarter, but where they have compulsory education and people are used to taking standardized tests. The much lower scores they came up with in the book, where they weren't completely made up, were the result of taking a test calibrated for Europeans and North Americans and then giving it to someone from a different culture not at all used to taking the same type of test. That's just bad data collection. Though there are some vocal supporters of Lynn and this "research." (mostly racists, but not all)
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Level 85
Jun 22, 2013
I agree with most of what you've written. Just a minor point -- I believe its Finland not Norway with the much lauded system.
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Level 82
Jun 23, 2013
hm.. six of one, half a dozen of another.. anyway, from what I've heard all of those northern European countries similarly de-emphasize standardized testing, at least compared to South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and the USA.
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Level 33
Jun 30, 2013
hwes... it's a good quiz! From experience Kal won't accept any quiz in which the US aren't no 1. Weird I know... but there you go. Most of these countries have very good education systems - thus the high IQs. Mongolia is very interesting. Puts a different perspective on the invasions of Mongol hordes. :)
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Level 82
Sep 11, 2014
Unlike Oz I don't immediately accept any information that confirms personal bias or reject information that does not, and I don't have any special grudge or affection for one country or another. I question the data from the book this is based on and that I am actually familiar with for good reason, and not because it says Americans are stupid which is of course the conclusion Oz immediately jumped to because that's what he does, because the book doesn't even conclude that. As I pointed out, amongst its conclusions were that Americans have amongst the highest IQs in the world if you discount recent immigrants and some non-White minorities. So clearly that's not my problem with it. IQs in Mongolia, by the way, were arrived at the same problematic way as they guessed IQs for many other countries- namely by averaging scores from neighboring countries. So because people in Hong Kong, Macao, Shanghai and Seoul did well on tests they assume Mongolians would, too. (I deleted my other comments)