What is the average IQ? 2025

What is IQ

IQ (Intelligence quotient) is an important indicator to measure a person's cognitive ability and intelligence level. What is intelligence? Human intelligence is divided into three categories: neurological intelligence, experiential intelligence and reflective intelligence. The current IQ test mainly measures neurological intelligence and experiential intelligence, and there are more areas of intelligence that are not involved, such as curiosity, self-control, creativity and communication skills. The concept of IQ was proposed by Professor Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University in the United States.

What Is the Average IQ

This is the average IQ of each country updated on January 10, 2025 by International IQ Test. This study is based on 1,352,763 people around the world who took the same test on this website in 2024. Some regions are not included due to insufficient data. The average IQ of each country seems to be generally higher in East Asia. Europe, West Asia, Oceania, North America and North Africa are close to the average. Central and Southern Africa and Latin America are below average.

This report shows that the average IQ of Chinese people is 107.19, ranking first. Next is South Korea with 106.43, ranking second, Japan with 106.4, ranking third, Iran with 106.3, and Singapore with 105.14. Russia ranks sixth with 103.16, and the United States surprisingly ranks 30th with 99.74.  

What is the average IQ of Americans?

The average IQ in the United States is 98, with Massachusetts ranking first and Mississippi ranking last. Surprisingly, the average IQ in California is only 95.5. California has the most colleges, tech companies and innovations but ranks low.

Average IQ Score by Occupation

How to calculate IQ

There are two ways to calculate intelligence, one is the ratio IQ and the other is the deviation IQ. Ratio IQ is related to the ratio of mental age to physical age, and the calculation formula is IQ=100*MA/CA. Here, MA is mental age and CA is physical age. If a 10-year-old child has the mind of a 12-year-old, his IQ is 120. Obviously, this measurement method is inaccurate, because the older the age, the greater the age difference (mental and physical) required to reach a certain IQ value. Thus, deviation IQ is generated. For modern IQ tests, raw scores are converted to a normal distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. This results in about two-thirds of the population scoring between IQ 90 and 110, and about 2.5% of the population scoring above 130 and below 70, respectively.

Factors Affecting IQ

Genetics

Generally speaking, if parents have high IQs, their children will have high IQs. This genetic factor is also reflected in blood relationships. If parents are both locals, the average IQ of their children is 102; while the IQ of children born to parents who marry in different provinces is 109; if parents are cousins, the number of children with low IQs increases significantly.

Breast milk

Breast milk contains a variety of active substances that promote children's intellectual development, especially taurine, which has an important impact on intellectual development, which is 10 times higher than that of milk. According to surveys, children who grow up with breast milk have an IQ that is about 3 to 10 points higher than those who grow up with milk substitutes.

Diet

Children who eat too much meat or are greedy will have lower intelligence. Children who do not eat breakfast will have their intelligence affected because the protein, sugar, vitamins and trace elements taken in breakfast are all important components for brain health.

Weight

Children whose weight exceeds 20% of normal children will have lower vision, hearing and ability to accept knowledge. This is because too much fat in obese children enters the brain, which will hinder the development of nerve cells and the proliferation of nerve fibers.

Environment

Children living in a boring environment, such as abandoned babies, who do not receive maternal love and good education, will have a lower IQ. According to research, the average IQ of such children at the age of 3 is only 60.5, while the average IQ of 3-year-old children in a good environment is 91.8.

Drugs

Some drugs can affect children's intelligence. For example, long-term use of anti-epileptic drugs can reduce IQ. After stopping the drug for several years, the IQ will improve.

How to Test Intelligence

Intelligence tests mainly assess cognitive abilities such as logical reasoning, memory, and problem solving through standardized questions. The specific process includes selecting tools, controlling the environment, completing the test step by step, and recording the results and having professionals interpret them.

Some of the most commonly used IQ tests include:

• Raven's Intelligence Test
• Wechsler Intelligence Test

Controversy over IQ Tests

An IQ score is just a standardized test result, which has obvious limitations. The same person can get multiple results if they take multiple tests, and IQ values are difficult to reflect intelligence. IQ tests can also be used by racists/eugenicists: they may use IQ tests to prove that some races are less intelligent than others.

How to Improve Your IQ

Regular Thinking Exercise

Only a small part of human brain cells are used. Even in old age, the unused brain cells can still be activated. Regular thinking exercise, diligent use of the brain, good use of the brain, scientific work and rest, the intelligence level will continue to improve. Human intelligence includes many parts such as reaction, understanding, logical reasoning, etc. Regular training can control the degradation of its reaction. Reading more and thinking hard can promote understanding and logical ability.

Maintain a Good Work and Rest Schedule

Sleep for 8 hours a day and don't stay up late. Remember to rest, relax your eyes and relax your brain during the intervals between surfing the Internet. You must have a sense of time. No matter what you do, you must have a concept of time. You can't always think that it's still early and it doesn't matter if you play for a while. This understanding is wrong. Some people think that working overtime is to finish early tomorrow. If the task is not very heavy, there is no need to work overtime, so the ideological understanding must be clear.

Physical Exercise

When we do intense exercise, we not only improve the blood supply to the muscles, but also to the brain, which can quickly improve the overall performance of the brain. In particular, yoga inversions with the head lower than the heart are very effective in improving brain performance.

Play Puzzle Games

Various puzzle games, crossword puzzles, Sudoku and word games can not only kill time, but also provide good training opportunities for the brain. These games can even help you recover impaired cognitive abilities when you are sick. If you like this kind of games, play your favorite games in your free time so that your brain can stay active even when you are on vacation.

Final Thoughts

In general, the IQ ranking is a reference to the intelligence level of various parts of the world, but it cannot fully reflect the overall intelligence level of a region. People need to consider a variety of factors to more accurately evaluate the education level and intellectual development of a region.