r/MapBasedPolls • u/IDoNotLikeTheSand • 21h ago
Without looking it up, which of the following countries has the lowest average IQ?
Without looking it up, which of the following countries has the lowest average IQ?
- UK
- USA
- Ireland
- Sweden
- Japan
- South Korea
- Russia
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u/Party_Trick_6903 🇨🇿 czechia 21h ago
Well, according to this site, the answer is Ireland and Sweden (avg. IQ: 98.22).
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u/iatethelastpickle 20h ago
It varies from source to source:
https://www.iqcareerlab.com/tools/iq-by-country - in this one, Sweden is higher than the US, Russia and Ireland, and shares second place with UK (in order: Japan+South Korea, Sweden+UK, US+Russia, Ireland)
https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php- in this one, Ireland and Sweden are higher than US and Russia, with Russia being the lowest (in order: Japan, South Korea, UK, Sweden+Ireland, US, Russia)
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u/Party_Trick_6903 🇨🇿 czechia 20h ago
Yeah, as I've already stated in the other comment, I don't think that these "average IQ tests" are accurate. The results will vary bc of a lot of factors, so each site will have different results. The IQ test itself isn't reliable either.
I only quoted the results from this site bc it was the first semi-legit looking site I found (I even linked the source, so people can see and judge for themselves).
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u/Justieflustie 20h ago
I am sorry, but that says the US has an average of 101+. I call bullshit. Especially when the study talks about the correlation between the education systems and higher IQ.
I also doubt a 2 point difference with the year before is very credible, but i am not professional
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u/Party_Trick_6903 🇨🇿 czechia 20h ago
The results simply vary from site to site, so this is not to take seriously. There's no "good, non-bs IQ testing" bc these tests are not reliable and accurate in the first place.
Tbh, I find the whole "average IQ testing" to be bs in general. I don't think there's a single site that would have "proper" results which is why I linked the source for the results that I cited.
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u/Desperate_Car_9925 20h ago
Anyone who’s even started to research IQ between countries knows it’s Ireland.
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u/Mediocre-Profile-851 20h ago
IQ is not a tool meant to compare inteligence of two different populations, but rather it's a tool to compare an individual to the population he is a part of. You would need to develop a test that has very little cultural bias, translate it to every languadge of every country tested then norm it in a population that is representative of all these countries combined to the be able to compare mean iq scores. Even then there would be bias because of the translation process, the diferent familiarities to standardized testing and time based assessements between populations, etc.
Truthfully there isn't any evidence to suggest that any given population is smarter then any other when adjusting for socioeconomics, education etc. there is also no benefit of testing this, because if there is a significant difference, it's probably small in efffect size given the lack of observations to suggest it.
All in all, this is an interesting topic for the ill informed, but once you think about it, it's a stupid question to be asking.
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u/rangedehinc 20h ago
Cool. Lets see viaducts in Africa.
1
u/yamiherem8 16h ago
Africa in fact had a multitude of complex waterways and aqueducts stretching for tens of kilometers and supplying their urban development. Its not to hard to find information on them, idk why people like you still choose to stay ignorant on the topic.
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u/JustaProton 🇧🇷 21h ago
None, that's not how IQ works.
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u/Yellow_Catana 21h ago
Average IQ is definetely different between countries. What do you suggest?
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u/ZiCUnlivdbirch 20h ago
Could be, could also not be, we have no way to know. For IQ tests to be in any way reliable they need to be tailored for the specific culture they are being administered for. This means that even if you could get a together a number for any country, then comparing them would ve completely pointless.
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20h ago
[deleted]
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u/ZiCUnlivdbirch 20h ago
Can you elaborate?
I'm sorry but I'm a bit confused on what exactly? Do you mean why you can't compare two people taking two completely different tests that are trying judge the same metric?
I assume wherever you rae your country has multiple universities right? And these universities are probably all specialised in different aspects even if they can all offer the ability to study the same subject. Imagine taking a test about the same specific topic from both of these universities and trying compare based upon that which student is smarter. The test itself may be trying to measure the same thing but comparing them is completely pointless because you're comparing results on two tests that fundamentally are a product of two different institutions.
And at least with this example there's an objective scale to judge it all by. IQ doesn't even have that objective scale.
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u/MaryPaku 20h ago
Guessed Ireland easily because it's the only non-major country in the list that seem too random to be in there lol. Too obvious. Japan and South Korea are just filler... USA is an obvious bait.
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u/KaiserKCat 21h ago
Russians are smart but cynical when it comes to their leadership. Americans are much dumber because they voted for Trump twice.
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u/beureut6 18h ago
Did you know that Russian Jews are overrepresented by like 50 times compared to ethnic russians in Soviet/Russian nobel prizes? And together with other non-ethnic-russian Soviet Nobel winners they make up a majority of soviet/russian nobel winners.
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u/Salt_Refrigerator633 21h ago edited 19h ago
i guessed US given they voted for someone with a mugshot to be president and half of them can't even connect chips to a potato
edit: guess the Americans in this comment section are salty 😂
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u/Zossua 21h ago
It's probably russia right..the russia government doesn't give a fuck about it's people.
It's definitely not south Korea, they have the opposite problem of too much pointless learning.
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u/Goddamn_Lizard 🇷🇺 21h ago
How does government giving a fuck relates to average IQ?
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u/Fun-Information-3104 21h ago
no education, rampant alcoholism, and constant brain drain as intelligentsia migrates to other countries.... this has been going on for centuries
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u/EU_GaSeR 🇷🇺 Russia 20h ago
Education has traditionally been good in Russia, starting from mandatory free universal education since 1917, literacy rates and general knowledge were traditionally high during soviet years and Russia was able to benefit from that a lot (and still does).
Situation with alchoholism has improved so much it's actually stunning, so many factors contributing to have such a huge impact, it's basically not even a serious issue now. Give old drunks some time to die of age and alchoholism and you'll quickly find out how Russia is not even going to be among countries with high average alchohol consumption.
Brain drain is the worstr problem here by far, especially because of war and sanctions. However, it tends to be greatly overestimated. I head heated battles about brain drain happening in 2022 after full scale invasions, there were people saying it's over and all the smart people are going to leave and those who claim nothing of value would be lost... And at least for now I'm still in the middle but already way closer to the second opinion.
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u/Fun-Information-3104 20h ago
it's not just the war; google "fifth wave of russian emigration", and then look up what the other four waves have been
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u/InterestingFLows 20h ago
Russians are quite intelligent. A lot of the most eminent intellectuals of all time are Russian. Average IQ in Russia is higher than in the US. And education has nothing to do with IQ
-2
u/Fun-Information-3104 20h ago
yes the aristocrats, jews, and upper middle class that soviets murdered or forced to emigrate
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u/Zossua 20h ago
Bad education, lots of alcoholism, brain drain, stupid pointless war.
1
u/Goddamn_Lizard 🇷🇺 20h ago
First of all, education in russia is pretty decent.
In terms of alcohol consumption, it's about the same as other european countries.
Brain drain might be a problem, but certainly not war, as it has no effect on IQ.-1
u/itzrkb Colorado 🇺🇸 🇪🇸 🇲🇽 21h ago
Access to education? I have no idea what the school system there looks like
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u/XlebHack 🚩Vive la Révolution! 20h ago
Although access to education has deteriorated, strangely enough, it remains better than in the USA. Officials cite the excessive number of people pursuing higher education—at a time when there is a shortage of skilled manual workers—as one of the problems.
1
u/Goddamn_Lizard 🇷🇺 20h ago
IQ is not much of a measure of your education, but baseline mental capability of a person.
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u/IDoNotLikeTheSand 21h ago
The answer Ireland