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Dataset · Version 2.0

Average IQ by Country

There is no reliable, comparable measure of average IQ across countries, and the tables that circulate online are built from small, old and uneven studies. What we can show is how 325,671 people in 41 countries scored on the same free online test between July and September 2026, with the uncertainty and the caveats attached.

The short version: country averages differ by a few questions, while the people inside any one country differ by far more.

  • 325,671 first attempts
  • 41 countries
  • 20 Jul to 14 Sep 2026
  • CC BY 4.0 licence
  • Download the CSV

United States: 100.2, with a 95% range of 99.9 to 100.5, from 26,693 first attempts. That is 0.1 questions above the UK sample. The middle 80% of takers there scored between 85.9 and 112.9.

Fig 01 · Every country with 300 or more takers

Average test scores by country. Ordered by index, with the UK sample set at 100. Countries closer together than their ranges are not reliably different, so there are no rank numbers.

CSV, all columns
Index against the UK sample, 95% range, gap in questions, takers, most used language version and notes, for 41 countries
Country Index 95% range Vs UK, questions Takers Main version Note
19 countries with 1,000 or more takers
Japan 102.3 102.0 to 102.6 +0.8 22,198 Japanese
Canada 100.8 100.4 to 101.3 +0.3 4,068 English
Australia 100.5 100.0 to 101.0 +0.2 3,480 English
Germany 100.5 99.9 to 101.1 +0.2 1,745 English Over half Russian version
Netherlands 100.4 99.7 to 101.1 +0.1 1,292 Russian Over half Russian version
Spain 100.3 99.8 to 100.8 +0.1 1,993 Spanish
United States 100.2 99.9 to 100.5 +0.1 26,693 English
United Kingdom 100.0 99.8 to 100.2 0.0 8,616 English
France 99.2 98.8 to 99.6 −0.3 5,022 French
Russia 99.1 98.5 to 99.8 −0.3 1,376 Russian
India 98.5 98.2 to 98.8 −0.5 24,998 English
Egypt 98.4 97.6 to 99.1 −0.5 1,092 English
Bangladesh 97.3 96.5 to 98.2 −0.9 1,026 English
Brazil 97.2 96.4 to 97.9 −0.9 1,035 Portuguese (Brazil)
Philippines 97.0 96.7 to 97.4 −1.0 5,685 English
South Africa 97.0 96.3 to 97.6 −1.0 1,152 English
Pakistan 94.4 93.6 to 95.1 −1.9 1,186 English
Malaysia 88.8 88.0 to 89.6 −3.7 1,820 English
Indonesia 86.2 85.9 to 86.4 −4.6 201,437 Indonesian 95% Indonesian version
22 countries with 300 to 999 takers, wider ranges
Italy 102.9 101.9 to 103.9 +1.0 433 English 300 to 999 takers
Romania 101.4 100.1 to 102.7 +0.5 328 English 300 to 999 takers
Türkiye 100.9 99.7 to 102.0 +0.3 449 English 300 to 999 takers
New Zealand 100.8 99.9 to 101.7 +0.3 649 English 300 to 999 takers
Poland 100.7 99.6 to 101.8 +0.2 416 English 300 to 999 takers
Sweden 100.6 99.6 to 101.6 +0.2 491 English 300 to 999 takers
Mexico 100.6 99.6 to 101.6 +0.2 362 Spanish 300 to 999 takers
Finland 100.4 99.0 to 101.7 +0.1 306 English 300 to 999 takers
Greece 100.3 99.3 to 101.3 +0.1 512 English 300 to 999 takers
Ireland 100.2 99.0 to 101.4 +0.1 371 English 300 to 999 takers
United Arab Emirates 99.8 98.8 to 100.9 −0.1 463 English 300 to 999 takers
Belarus 98.6 97.5 to 99.6 −0.5 475 Russian 300 to 999 takers
Sri Lanka 98.5 97.3 to 99.8 −0.5 350 English 300 to 999 takers
Thailand 98.3 97.0 to 99.6 −0.6 332 English 300 to 999 takers
Ukraine 97.8 96.5 to 99.1 −0.7 375 Russian 300 to 999 takers
Tunisia 97.2 95.9 to 98.4 −0.9 324 English 300 to 999 takers
Nepal 97.0 95.7 to 98.3 −1.0 351 English 300 to 999 takers
Nigeria 96.7 95.5 to 98.0 −1.1 462 English 300 to 999 takers
Singapore 94.5 93.3 to 95.6 −1.8 886 Indonesian Mostly Indonesian-version takers · 300 to 999 takers
Saudi Arabia 94.3 92.9 to 95.7 −1.9 426 English 300 to 999 takers
Cambodia 88.0 86.6 to 89.5 −4.0 491 Indonesian Mostly Indonesian-version takers · 300 to 999 takers
Taiwan 86.8 85.4 to 88.2 −4.4 505 Indonesian Mostly Indonesian-version takers · 300 to 999 takers

How to read a row. The index is 100 plus the gap between that country’s average and the UK sample’s, in test points. Each question is worth three points, so an index of 97 means about one question fewer. It is not an IQ. Countries with 300 to 999 takers are listed separately, in grey, because their ranges are wider.

Fig 02 · What the data shows

Five things the country data shows. Each is stated as narrowly as the checks allow. The findings that failed a check are listed in the method, so nobody has to take our word for which is which.

1. Where you live says little about your score

Across 17 countries, 2.1% of the variation lies between countries and 97.9% between people in the same country. Add Indonesia and Malaysia and the between-country share rises to 16.3%.

All the variation in scores across 17 countries

  • 2.1% between countries
  • 97.9% between people in the same country

The same thing in test points

Between country averages
1.95
Between people, one country
11.17

Standard deviation, test points

UK sample = 100 Average · takers Japan: average 102.3, middle 80% of takers 91.9 to 112.9, 22,198 takers Japan 102.3 22,198 Canada: average 100.8, middle 80% of takers 88.9 to 112.9, 4,068 takers Canada 100.8 4,068 Australia: average 100.5, middle 80% of takers 88.9 to 112.9, 3,480 takers Australia 100.5 3,480 Germany: average 100.5, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 112.9, 1,745 takers Germany 100.5 1,745 Netherlands: average 100.4, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 112.9, 1,292 takers Netherlands 100.4 1,292 Spain: average 100.3, middle 80% of takers 88.9 to 112.9, 1,993 takers Spain 100.3 1,993 United States: average 100.2, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 112.9, 26,693 takers United States 100.2 26,693 United Kingdom: average 100.0, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 112.9, 8,616 takers United Kingdom 100.0 8,616 France: average 99.2, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 109.9, 5,022 takers France 99.2 5,022 Russia: average 99.1, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 109.9, 1,376 takers Russia 99.1 1,376 India: average 98.5, middle 80% of takers 82.9 to 112.9, 24,998 takers India 98.5 24,998 Egypt: average 98.4, middle 80% of takers 85.9 to 109.9, 1,092 takers Egypt 98.4 1,092 Bangladesh: average 97.3, middle 80% of takers 82.9 to 109.9, 1,026 takers Bangladesh 97.3 1,026 Brazil: average 97.2, middle 80% of takers 79.9 to 109.9, 1,035 takers Brazil 97.2 1,035 Philippines: average 97.0, middle 80% of takers 82.9 to 109.9, 5,685 takers Philippines 97.0 5,685 South Africa: average 97.0, middle 80% of takers 82.9 to 109.9, 1,152 takers South Africa 97.0 1,152 Pakistan: average 94.4, middle 80% of takers 76.9 to 109.9, 1,186 takers Pakistan 94.4 1,186 Malaysia: average 88.8, middle 80% of takers 67.9 to 106.9, 1,820 takers Malaysia 88.8 1,820 Indonesia: average 86.2, middle 80% of takers 61.9 to 103.9, 201,437 takers Indonesia 86.2 201,437 60708090100110120 Score index, UK sample = 100

Where 315,914 first attempts landed. The dot is each country’s average; the bar holds its middle 80% of takers. The bars overlap almost everywhere. Even between the lowest and highest averages, 13.3% of takers in Indonesia matched or beat the median in Japan.

Middle 80% of takersCountry average40% or more took the Indonesian-language version

2. 8 points cover 17 countries

Leave aside Indonesia and Malaysia, where our takers are most often on phones and most often rush, and the country averages span 7.9 points. That is 2.6 questions out of 33, at three points each.

3. Half the takers were children, and are not in this table

Of first-time takers who gave an age, 50.3% were under 18. Every one of them is excluded here. Among the adults who remain, 87% took the test on a phone. No country’s takers resemble its population, which is the first reason none of these figures is a national IQ.

4. The order loosely follows school results

Countries whose pupils score higher in the World Bank’s harmonised learning data also score higher here, with a rank correlation of 0.85 across 19 countries. Internet access follows a similar order, but the link survives holding it constant, at a partial correlation of 0.51 (p 0.030).

5. A second attempt scores higher

Adults who retook the test within a day scored 3.5 points higher on average, and 2.6 higher a week or more later. Practice on the same questions accounts for part of it. It is why every figure here uses first attempts only, and why 159,699 people who went on to retake it are counted once.

Fig 03 · Who is in a row

Why a country’s average is not its population’s IQ

A row in the table describes the people who took the test from that country. They are rarely a fair picture of the country itself.

The language of the test tracks scores

The test runs in eight languages, and each translation uses four verbal questions written separately from the English ones. Inside Indonesia, the 9,168 people who chose the English version scored 7.3 points higher than the 192,264 who took the Indonesian one. Among adults in Singapore the gap was 16.1 points.

This is not simply “English is easier”. In Japan it runs the other way: adults on the Japanese version scored 4.1 points higher than adults on the English one. Which version someone picks says something about who they are, and we cannot separate that from the questions themselves.

Location is not nationality

Singapore has the highest learning scores in the World Bank’s data and one of the lowest averages we record, because 53.7% of the adults taking the test there used the Indonesian-language version. Taiwan’s row is 86.3% Indonesian-version takers. Both sit below the 1,000-taker line on adults, so neither is in the chart, but both are in the table. In the Netherlands, which is in the chart, the most-used version is Russian. Migrant workers, students and VPN connections all land somewhere other than their passport.

Reach is uneven

Indonesia supplies 63.8% of the first attempts in the chart, largely because the test ranks at the top of Indonesian search results and reaches far beyond the curious-and-online slice it reaches elsewhere. Even after excluding under-18s, it is the one country where our takers are close to a general audience. In most other countries our takers are a small, curious and unusual slice of people who went looking for an IQ test in English.

Hold age and language constant, and the gaps shrink

The fairest comparison we can make is between people of the same age taking the same version. Restricting to 18 to 24 year olds barely moves the order (rank correlation 0.97 against the published table, 19 countries). Adding the English version as a second control changes the size of the gaps: Indonesia rises 5.3 points and Malaysia 2.2, and the whole spread narrows to 10.1 points across 15 countries.

85 90 95 100 As publishedAged 18 to 2418 to 24, English Canada: published 100.8, 18 to 24 100.6, 18 to 24 on English 100.4. Germany: published 100.5, 18 to 24 99.1, 18 to 24 on English 101.1. Australia: published 100.5, 18 to 24 101.1, 18 to 24 on English 100.9. Netherlands: published 100.4, 18 to 24 99.4, 18 to 24 on English 100.4. United States: published 100.2, 18 to 24 99.7, 18 to 24 on English 99.7. United Kingdom: published 100.0, 18 to 24 100.0, 18 to 24 on English 100.0. India: published 98.5, 18 to 24 97.7, 18 to 24 on English 97.5. Egypt: published 98.4, 18 to 24 97.8, 18 to 24 on English 98.8. Bangladesh: published 97.3, 18 to 24 96.7, 18 to 24 on English 96.5. South Africa: published 97.0, 18 to 24 96.4, 18 to 24 on English 96.3. Philippines: published 97.0, 18 to 24 95.7, 18 to 24 on English 95.6. Nigeria: published 96.7, 18 to 24 95.2, 18 to 24 on English 95.0. Pakistan: published 94.4, 18 to 24 93.6, 18 to 24 on English 93.4. Malaysia: published 88.8, 18 to 24 87.3, 18 to 24 on English 91.0. Malaysia 91.0 Indonesia: published 86.2, 18 to 24 85.2, 18 to 24 on English 91.5. Indonesia 91.5 Score index, UK sample = 100

Each line is one country. The two drawn in colour are the two the paragraph above names, because they move furthest. The order barely changes; what changes is how far apart the countries are.

Index as published, then with age held at 18 to 24, then with age and the English version held together
CountryPublished18 to 2418 to 24, EnglishTakers, controlled
Canada 100.8 100.6 100.4 1,125
Germany 100.5 99.1 101.1 400
Australia 100.5 101.1 100.9 1,038
Netherlands 100.4 99.4 100.4 321
United States 100.2 99.7 99.7 9,173
United Kingdom 100.0 100.0 100.0 2,423
India 98.5 97.7 97.5 16,353
Egypt 98.4 97.8 98.8 619
Bangladesh 97.3 96.7 96.5 731
South Africa 97.0 96.4 96.3 490
Philippines 97.0 95.7 95.6 3,303
Nigeria 96.7 95.2 95.0 313
Pakistan 94.4 93.6 93.4 819
Malaysia 88.8 87.3 91.0 618
Indonesia 86.2 85.2 91.5 5,463

Only the 15 countries with at least 300 takers aged 18 to 24 on the English version appear here. Indonesia’s controlled figure rests on 5,463 people, a small and unusual slice of its 201,437 takers.

The device changes a score more than the country does

Among adults, people on a computer outscored people on a phone in every country where both groups pass 300 takers. The gap runs from 1.6 points to 9.5, which at the top is three questions, larger than the distance between most countries in the table above.

0 2 4 6 8 10 Whole spread of 17 country averages Indonesia: computer scored 9.5 points higher than phone, give or take 0.3. 10,737 on a computer, 190,700 on a phone. Indonesia +9.5 Germany: computer scored 5.4 points higher than phone, give or take 1.1. 372 on a computer, 1,373 on a phone. Germany +5.4 Brazil: computer scored 4.0 points higher than phone, give or take 1.5. 428 on a computer, 607 on a phone. Brazil +4.0 Spain: computer scored 3.8 points higher than phone, give or take 1.0. 515 on a computer, 1,478 on a phone. Spain +3.8 Russia: computer scored 3.5 points higher than phone, give or take 1.2. 553 on a computer, 823 on a phone. Russia +3.5 South Africa: computer scored 3.2 points higher than phone, give or take 1.3. 325 on a computer, 827 on a phone. South Africa +3.2 Philippines: computer scored 3.1 points higher than phone, give or take 0.6. 1,497 on a computer, 4,188 on a phone. Philippines +3.1 United Kingdom: computer scored 3.0 points higher than phone, give or take 0.6. 1,834 on a computer, 6,782 on a phone. United Kingdom +3.0 Canada: computer scored 2.9 points higher than phone, give or take 0.7. 1,131 on a computer, 2,937 on a phone. Canada +2.9 Pakistan: computer scored 2.8 points higher than phone, give or take 1.5. 346 on a computer, 840 on a phone. Pakistan +2.8 Japan: computer scored 2.6 points higher than phone, give or take 0.3. 3,217 on a computer, 18,981 on a phone. Japan +2.6 India: computer scored 2.5 points higher than phone, give or take 0.3. 6,107 on a computer, 18,891 on a phone. India +2.5 France: computer scored 1.9 points higher than phone, give or take 0.7. 1,512 on a computer, 3,510 on a phone. France +1.9 Australia: computer scored 1.8 points higher than phone, give or take 0.8. 1,147 on a computer, 2,333 on a phone. Australia +1.8 United States: computer scored 1.6 points higher than phone, give or take 0.3. 7,339 on a computer, 19,354 on a phone. United States +1.6 Computer minus phone, test points

Bars are the gap in test points, with the 95% interval on the end. The dashed line is the entire spread of the 17 country averages, for scale.

Difference between computer and phone scores among adults, by country
CountryComputer minus phoneOn a computerOn a phone
Indonesia +9.5 ± 0.3 10,737 190,700
Germany +5.4 ± 1.1 372 1,373
Brazil +4.0 ± 1.5 428 607
Spain +3.8 ± 1.0 515 1,478
Russia +3.5 ± 1.2 553 823
South Africa +3.2 ± 1.3 325 827
Philippines +3.1 ± 0.6 1,497 4,188
United Kingdom +3.0 ± 0.6 1,834 6,782
Canada +2.9 ± 0.7 1,131 2,937
Pakistan +2.8 ± 1.5 346 840
Japan +2.6 ± 0.3 3,217 18,981
India +2.5 ± 0.3 6,107 18,891
France +1.9 ± 0.7 1,512 3,510
Australia +1.8 ± 0.8 1,147 2,333
United States +1.6 ± 0.3 7,339 19,354

We cannot tell how much of this is the screen and how much is the person. A computer at that age often means a desk, a school or an office, and fewer interruptions. It is a reason to read any country figure loosely, because the mix of phones and computers differs from country to country.

What happens when school goes back

In the week starting 28 June, Indonesian school holidays brought 2.6 million attempts, 78% of them from under-18s. As term resumed, the under-18 share of Indonesian takers fell from 0.0% to about 49.7%, and the weekly average rose from 115.2 to 111.8. Nothing changed about Indonesians over those two months. A different group of people was taking the test.

That is why the window starts on 20 July, after the wave. Including it barely changes the order of countries (rank correlation 0.99), but it would have swamped the averages. For the same reason we checked weekdays against weekends, and found nothing: the largest difference in any country was 0.6 points.

Fig 04 · Other tables

How this differs from the national IQ lists

Almost every “average IQ by country” table online descends from one project, and it is worth reading with its sources.

The lists you will usually find trace back to estimates compiled by the psychologist Richard Lynn and the political scientist Tatu Vanhanen in 2002, later extended with David Becker. They gathered published test results country by country and converted each to a common scale on which the United Kingdom reads 100.

The trouble is what went into it. In the first edition, only 81 of the 185 countries had any direct evidence, and figures for most of the rest were estimated from neighbouring countries. Even the direct evidence was thin: a test of 50 teenagers in Colombia, or of 48 children in Equatorial Guinea, stood in for a whole nation (Richardson, 2004).

When researchers went back to the original studies for sub-Saharan Africa and chose samples by explicit rules, the average came out near 82 on the same UK norms, where the rankings had put it below 70 (Wicherts, Dolan and van der Maas, 2010). A 2022 review by the anthropologist Rebecca Sear concluded that the national datasets are neither accurate, unbiased nor comparable.

Measured IQ also moves with schooling. A meta-analysis of 42 datasets and more than 600,000 people found each extra year of education adds about 1 to 5 IQ points (Ritchie and Tucker-Drob, 2018), and average scores rose by roughly three points a decade across the twentieth century (Flynn, 1987; Pietschnig and Voracek, 2015). A country’s number is a snapshot of its schools and its moment as much as its people.

Our figures avoid some of those problems and have others of their own. Everyone here answered the same kind of questions, in the same weeks, scored the same way, and every step is published. But nobody was sampled. Every person chose to look for an IQ test online.

Fig 05 · A check against independent data

Do the scores line up with school results? Loosely, yes. But the same order also follows internet access, so the agreement cannot prove what drives it.

Correlations between our country index and three independent measures
Compared withCountriesRank correlationLinear correlation
World Bank harmonised learning outcomes (2020)190.850.54
PISA 2022 mathematics (OECD)130.860.74
Internet users, share of population (World Bank)190.490.33

Learning

A real but loose link

The ordering follows the World Bank’s harmonised learning outcomes, which combine international school tests for 164 countries (Angrist and colleagues, 2021).

Access

Tangled with the internet

Learning scores and internet use correlate at 0.84 across these countries. Holding internet use constant, the link to learning falls to 0.51 and is no longer clearly different from zero (p = 0.03).

Wider set

Stronger without one cohort

Across 34 countries with 300 or more takers, leaving out those with many Indonesian-version takers, the rank correlation with learning scores is 0.74. We chose that cut after seeing the data, so treat it as a lead, not a result.

Fig 06 · Method

How the figures were made

Every query was run on 15 September 2026 against our analytics store, using only what the privacy policy discloses: completion events, scores, timing, approximate country, device, language version and the age band people chose to give.

The unit

One person’s first completed attempt, identified by a first-party browser cookie, taken between 20 July and 14 September 2026. All 33 questions answered, no timer, between 3 and 60 minutes from first answer to submission. Retakes never stand in for a first attempt.

How the sample was narrowed
StepAttempts left
Completed tests in the window, all sites1,565,551
MyIQtested IQ test only1,396,774
Valid score, known country and duration1,394,430
Took 3 to 60 minutes1,078,400
First attempt per person728,190
In countries with 300 or more takers325,671
In countries with 1,000 or more takers315,914

The score

The test counts correct answers across 33 multiple-choice questions and reports 51 plus three points for each one, with a floor of 55. The reference point is fixed rather than estimated from takers, so absolute averages run well above 100 and are never shown here. A ceiling also compresses the top: in the highest-scoring countries, 10% to 14% of takers answer 30 or more correctly.

The index

For each country, the index is 100 plus the difference between its mean and the UK sample’s mean (8,616 takers), in test points. The UK anchor follows the convention of the published national tables; it carries no other meaning. The 95% range combines the uncertainty of both means. The 10th and 90th percentiles are shifted the same way.

The checks

The order of countries was recomputed under every cut below. A rank correlation of 1.00 would mean nothing moved. Language version and device moved it most, which is why the page makes no claim about fine differences.

Rank correlation of the country order under alternative samples
Alternative sampleCountriesRank correlation
Under 18s only (the group this table excludes)150.92
Attempts of 6 to 15 minutes120.93
English version only110.99
Translated versions only50.90
Phones only130.92
Desktops only90.95
All attempts, retakes included200.97
Window from 30 June (holiday wave included)201.00
First half of the window against the second90.95
Aged 18 to 24 only190.97
Aged 18 to 24 on the English version only150.96

What we chose not to publish

Average IQs, rank numbers, device effects, trends within the window, claims that one language version is easier, and any comparison of children with adults across countries. Each looked tempting and each failed at least one check. Scores from repeated attempts a week or more apart correlate at 0.56, which is one more reason to read a single score as a range.

Fig 07 · Limitations

Where this data is weak

Read these before quoting a figure. They are the reasons the table has no rank numbers.

L.01

Nobody was sampled

People who search for an IQ test are not a random slice of any country, and nothing here is weighted to a population.

L.02

Who is online differs

Where internet access is patchy, takers skew young, urban and connected. The 19 larger countries range from 53% to 98% internet use.

L.03

Language versions differ

Translations use four separately written verbal questions. We could not test whether the versions are equally hard.

L.04

Age is self-reported

Age is asked after the last question, and nobody is checked. Half of those who answer say they are under 18 and are excluded, so an under-18 who says otherwise stays in.

L.05

Location comes from the connection

A VPN, a trip abroad or a job in another country puts people in the wrong row.

L.06

Effort is invisible

We drop attempts under three minutes, but a careless answer can take longer than that.

L.07

One short test

Thirty-three questions, twenty of them matrices, with a ceiling at the top. A different test would reorder some countries.

L.08

A snapshot

Eight weeks of one summer. School calendars shift who takes the test, and the figures will move with them.

Fig 08 · Cite and reuse

How to cite and reuse this data

Use it, chart it, disagree with it. Credit MyIQtested and link to this page.

Suggested citation

Hodge, M. (2026). Scores on the MyIQtested IQ test by country (Version 2.0) [Data set]. MyIQtested. https://www.myiqtested.com/average-iq-by-country

Download the CSV Licence CC BY 4.0 · version 2.0 · journalists and researchers can contact us

Sources, all checked 16 September 2026

  • Angrist, N., Djankov, S., Goldberg, P. K., & Patrinos, H. A. (2021). Measuring human capital using global learning data. Nature, 592(7854), 403–408. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03323-7
  • Flynn, J. R. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: what IQ tests really measure. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 171–191. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.171
  • Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2002). IQ and the Wealth of Nations. Praeger.
  • OECD (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education. OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/53f23881-en
  • Pietschnig, J., & Voracek, M. (2015). One century of global IQ gains: a formal meta-analysis of the Flynn effect (1909–2013). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(3), 282–306. doi:10.1177/1745691615577701
  • Richardson, K. (2004). IQ and the Wealth of Nations [Book review]. Heredity, 92(4), 359–360. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800418
  • Ritchie, S. J., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2018). How much does education improve intelligence? A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 29(8), 1358–1369. doi:10.1177/0956797618774253
  • Sear, R. (2022). ‘National IQ’ datasets do not provide accurate, unbiased or comparable measures of cognitive ability worldwide. PsyArXiv. doi:10.31234/osf.io/26vfb
  • Wicherts, J. M., Dolan, C. V., & van der Maas, H. L. J. (2010). A systematic literature review of the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans. Intelligence, 38(1), 1–20. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2009.05.002
  • World Bank (2020). Harmonized Test Scores, Human Capital Index (indicator HD.HCI.HLOS). Accessed 15 September 2026. data.worldbank.org/indicator/HD.HCI.HLOS
Analysis and writing Michael Hodge, Bachelor of Science (Psychology), University of Wollongong Conflicts of interest MyIQtested runs the test the data comes from and sells an optional certificate.

Fig 09 · Common questions

Questions about IQ by country

Q.01

Which country has the highest average IQ?

No one can say reliably, because no test has been given to comparable, representative samples in every country. On this test, takers in Japan scored highest of the 19 countries with 1,000 or more people, 2.3 points above the UK sample. Almost all of them used the Japanese version, whose four verbal questions differ from the English ones, so even that is not a like-for-like result.

Q.02

What is the average IQ in the United States?

On a clinical test normed on Americans, such as the Wechsler scales, the US average is 100 by definition. On this online test, US takers sat -0.2 points below the UK sample, a gap that disappears among adults. Neither figure is a national IQ: online averages run well above 100, and nobody here was sampled.

Q.03

What is the world's average IQ?

There is no measured one. Every IQ scale sets the average of its own reference group at 100, and no test has been given to a representative sample of the world. Global averages quoted online come from combining the contested national estimates described on this page.

Q.04

Why does Indonesia score lower on this test?

Mostly because of who took it, and in which version. Nearly all of our Indonesian takers used the Indonesian-language test, and many are school students who found it through search. Indonesians who chose the English version scored 7.3 points higher. The figure describes our takers, not Indonesians, and the translation itself may account for part of the gap.

Q.05

Does a country's average say anything about the people in it?

Very little about any one person. Across 17 countries, 97.9% of the variation in scores lies between people in the same country, and 13.3% of takers in Indonesia matched or beat the median in Japan. Averages also move with schooling, internet access and who takes the test, which a single number cannot separate.

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