IQ compared by countries

Intelligence related to income and climate

The displayed IQ was averaged out of the results of 9 international studies and compared to the average income and government expenditures on education for the years 1990 to 2010.

Rank	Country	IQ	Ø Income	Education expenditures per capita	Ø Daily max temperature
1	Singapore	108	25,407 $	904 $	31.5 °C
2	Hong Kong	108	25,419 $	915 $	26.1 °C
3	Taiwan	106			27.1 °C
4	South Korea	106	13,710 $	520 $	18.2 °C
5	Japan	105	36,799 $	1,242 $	19.8 °C
6	China	104	1,375 $	27 $	19.4 °C
7	Switzerland	102	50,004 $	2,467 $	12.7 °C
8	Netherlands	102	33,383 $	1,681 $	14.3 °C
9	North Korea	102			14.9 °C
10	Macau	101	20,622 $	636 $	25.8 °C
11	Iceland	101	34,914 $	2,413 $	7.9 °C
12	Finland	101	31,424 $	1,984 $	8.0 °C
13	Canada	101	27,545 $	1,654 $	7.4 °C
14	Belgium	100	30,760 $	1,682 $	14.5 °C
15	Germany	100	30,918 $	1,386 $	13.5 °C
16	United Kingdom	100	30,889 $	1,444 $	12.8 °C
17	Austria	100	32,000 $	1,764 $	13.0 °C
18	New Zealand	100	18,670 $	1,283 $	17.5 °C
19	Norway	99	48,277 $	3,527 $	8.9 °C
20	Sweden	99	36,411 $	2,334 $	9.4 °C
21	Luxembourg	99	54,392 $	2,286 $	13.8 °C
22	Denmark	99	39,129 $	3,126 $	11.9 °C
23	Czech Republic	99	9,264 $	385 $	12.1 °C
24	Estonia	99	9,552 $	457 $	10.0 °C
25	Australia	99	25,704 $	1,387 $	24.4 °C
26	France	98	29,590 $	1,607 $	16.5 °C
27	United States	98	36,609 $	1,909 $	18.7 °C
28	Hungary	98	7,404 $	392 $	16.1 °C
29	Malta	97	12,385 $	615 $	23.1 °C
30	Italy	97	25,872 $	1,170 $	18.2 °C
31	Latvia	97	6,954 $	333 $	10.7 °C
32	Slovakia	97	9,319 $	332 $	14.9 °C
33	Spain	97	19,834 $	885 $	21.0 °C
34	Slovenia	97	16,381 $	880 $	15.3 °C
35	Poland	97	6,111 $	298 $	13.1 °C
36	Russia	96	4,103 $	157 $	8.6 °C
37	Moldova	95	765 $	53 $	16.0 °C
38	Croatia	95	8,676 $	346 $	18.2 °C
39	Ukraine	95	1,460 $	83 $	14.0 °C
40	Portugal	95	14,177 $	724 $	21.2 °C
41	Ireland	94	28,462 $	1,633 $	13.2 °C
42	Vietnam	94	484 $	26 $	29.2 °C
43	Israel	94	19,398 $	1,224 $	26.2 °C
44	Belarus	93	2,514 $	139 $	11.5 °C
45	Malaysia	93	4,562 $	274 $	31.9 °C
46	Lithuania	93	6,731 $	326 $	11.4 °C
47	Kazakhstan	92	2,768 $	97 $	13.0 °C
48	Greece	92	16,859 $	541 $	22.4 °C
49	Bulgaria	91	2,769 $	111 $	17.8 °C
50	Macedonia	91	2,505 $	115 $	18.5 °C
51	Argentina	90	6,340 $	277 $	23.8 °C
52	Romania	90	3,364 $	116 $	15.0 °C
53	Turkey	89	4,924 $	142 $	19.8 °C
54	Thailand	89	2,607 $	108 $	32.8 °C
55	Serbia	89	3,393 $	157 $	18.1 °C
56	Chile	89	5,640 $	211 $	17.4 °C
57	Cambodia	88	431 $	7 $	33.4 °C
58	Laos	88	420 $	11 $	32.0 °C
59	Mauritius	87	4,528 $	166 $	26.3 °C
60	Costa Rica	86	4,013 $	217 $	28.9 °C
61	Philippines	86	1,307 $	36 $	31.3 °C
62	Mexico	86	6,114 $	272 $	29.2 °C
63	Tonga	86	2,220 $	103 $	27.1 °C
64	Iraq	86	3,927 $		32.3 °C
65	Venezuela	85	4,704 $	237 $	31.6 °C
66	Bolivia	85	1,031 $	68 $	25.3 °C
67	Cuba	84	3,245 $	311 $	29.8 °C
68	Iran	84	2,825 $	120 $	23.6 °C
69	Montenegro	84	4,514 $		19.2 °C
70	Albania	84	1,713 $	56 $	22.5 °C
71	Indonesia	84	1,086 $	29 $	31.7 °C
72	Egypt	83	1,239 $	58 $	30.0 °C
73	Ecuador	83	2,352 $	69 $	24.5 °C
74	Burma	83	390 $	5 $	32.1 °C
75	Brazil	83	4,460 $	229 $	30.6 °C
76	United Arab Emirates	83	36,044 $	380 $	34.5 °C
77	Pakistan	82	614 $	16 $	31.5 °C
78	Algeria	82	2,315 $	108 $	24.9 °C
79	Peru	82	2,316 $	77 $	25.8 °C
80	Syria	82	1,131 $	58 $	25.6 °C
81	Colombia	82	2,685 $	124 $	28.3 °C
82	Morocco	82	1,716 $	88 $	24.0 °C
83	Bosnia and Herzegovina	82	2,599 $		18.5 °C
84	India	81	568 $	22 $	29.8 °C
85	Saudi Arabia	81	10,580 $	698 $	32.6 °C
86	Afghanistan	80	340 $	13 $	24.3 °C
87	Sri Lanka	79	1,025 $	30 $	28.9 °C
88	Madagascar	79	277 $	9 $	28.4 °C
89	Bangladesh	77	451 $	9 $	30.7 °C
90	Nepal	77	277 $	10 $	25.6 °C
91	Kenya	71	480 $	33 $	28.8 °C
92	Tanzania	71	325 $	13 $	29.9 °C
93	South Africa	70	3,931 $	221 $	24.8 °C
94	Nigeria	70	508 $		33.0 °C
95	Jamaica	70	3,006 $	156 $	31.8 °C
96	Ghana	69	530 $	34 $	31.5 °C
97	Namibia	69	2,749 $	196 $	29.1 °C
98	Mali	64	381 $	14 $	36.0 °C
99	Democratic Republic of the Congo	63	193 $	4 $	30.0 °C
100	Eritrea	63	250 $	9 $	29.2 °C
101	Guinea-Bissau	62	306 $	12 $	32.9 °C
102	Ethiopia	61	189 $	8 $	27.1 °C
103	Senegal	60	685 $	30 $	35.7 °C
104	Gambia	60	568 $	12 $	32.7 °C
105	East Timor	60	1,540 $	60 $	31.0 °C
106	Gabon	60	4,830 $	190 $	29.8 °C
107	Sao Tome and Principe	58	886 $	55 $	28.6 °C
108	Equatorial Guinea	56	3,336 $	156 $	30.2 °C

What is the intelligence quotient?

The definition states that the intelligence quotient is a measure of intellectual ability. Often the IQ is confused with a concrete performance or even education. However, it is the "ability" of performing. In other words, the ability for comprehension, combinations and learning.

A person isn't less intelligent, because of oa lower level of education. Instead, the one who can achieve the same education with less effort is classified as more intelligent. For example: In some intelligence tests are questions for the names of current politicians. This determines whether and how well the patient can remember a name and its position only by the influence of the media presence.

The intelligence quotient was adapted to a mean value of 100 points. For a standard deviation of 15%, an IQ between 85 and 115 should be taken as normal. Depending on the psychological and physical condition of the patient, the results can also vary by up to 10 points.

Intelligence is not a learning ability, but can be consciously increased. Through regular brain training like in school, individual skills are specifically addressed and achieved through a performance increase. Thus the general thinking-ability can be influenced by each individual within a certain framework. With increasing age, this possibility decreases considerably. Also part of the intelligence is inherited by father and mother.

Criticism:
The IQ was developed by West Europeans for West Europeans according to West European standards. It is still debatable whether this procedure can be applied to people(s) with entirely different social structures, cultures, values and ways of thinking.

Is intelligence dependent on the climate?

Since 1991 there has been the presumption that persistent heat affects the IQ over generations. It was initially assumed that living in lower temperatures requires a higher physical fitness and causes higher social demands. Richard Lynn, a professor at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, also assumes that the colder temperatures increase the brain volume. Whether brain size is at all related to intelligence, is controversial.

In general, a hot climate is considered a disadvantage for the development of intelligence. The reason is nowadays primarily seen in the high physical energy demand and the resulting stress.

No racial dependences

None of the studies used here, conclude that the intelligence quotient is influenced by a particular race. In some cases, differences within population groups were found (e.g. in Basil: Blacks 71, Mulatto 81, Whites 95, Japaneses 99), but all differences could be attributed to their origin, level of education or other factors.

In 2006 Donald Templera and Hiroko Arikawab found a connection between increasing skin pigmentation and a decreasing IQ. Even this was not racially dued, because the pigmentation grade is climatically conditioned. The observations were also made within the same groups of other races, e.g. caucasians.

Data base

The intelligence quotients by countries are taken from the studies conducted by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen (2002), Heiner Rindermann (2007), Khaleefa and Lynn (2008), Ahmad, Khanum and Riaz (2008), Lynn, Abdalla and Al-Shahomee (2008), Lynn and Meisenberg (2010) as well as the PISA tests in 2003, 2006 and 2009. More recent results were weighted heigher. The studies are not entirely uncontroversial as they're often considering only specific population groups or only a few individuals per countries. If, on the other hand, an average is obtained from all the tests and studies, an at least usable overview will be obtained.

The figures for average income, population and education expenditures are based on World Bank data, which were averaged over the period from 1990 to 2010. This corresponds to the period during which the studies were carried out. Temperatures were averaged from the data of the German Weather Service of the same period.