Department of General Surgery, Ulster Institute of Social Research, Bristol, United Kingdom
Research Article
National IQs and Socioeconomic Development
Author(s): Sebastian Jensen* and Emil OW Kirkegaard
Using 47 indicators of socioeconomic development and various sources of performance on cognitive tests, we constructed the SDI (Socioeconomic Development Index) and a set of national IQs for 197 nations, the latter using no geographic imputations. Combining the various datasets reduced the estimated standard error of national IQs from 5.41 to 2.58, and a strong correlation between socioeconomic development and national IQs was observed (r=.88).
Based on the prior that Flynn effect gains do not pass measurement invariance, IQ scores should exhibit some non-negligible bias between countries. Empirical assessments of measurement invariance across nations finds that measurement invariance violations are uncommon, and are more prevalent in verbal than nonverbal tests. In most countries, national IQs show high levels of reliability and validity, and we encourage their use in the l.. View More»
Spanish 
Chinese 
Russian 
German 
French 
Japanese 
Portuguese 
Hindi 