Sloan replies to a question on low African IQ's:

Ken, you and many others have commented on national IQ findings. Your "quite interesting" phrase is much more subdued than what most people write.

First let me refer you to my main Nation IQ webpage: www.sq.4mg.com/NationIQ.htm (this page). On it, you will find links to its academic source: the book Intelligence and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations and the bio of its leading author Richard Lynn. I believe that book's data is well researched and is as accurate as we now know.

Yes, I agree with you that the old IQ term "moron" is unfortunate. It has taken on additional meanings and probably should be replaced. The IQ system relates to abilities to perform, compared to others, in an academic setting - such as high school. Most students in the under 70 IQ level do not graduate from regular high schools; they usually drop out well before graduation.

On the other hand, my research in Social Skills, particularly in SQ (Social Quotient), shows that low IQ students show a normal range of SQ scores. In other words, they are able to perform in social situations relatively normally. They are not social morons. It seems to me that most people wrongly lump academic morons and social morons as being in the same group.

I find it sad that many people in the world, particularly in Africa, have low IQ scores. Their futures are limited. But the fact that many of these individuals have average to outstanding social skills means that they could contribute to society in many ways other than in using academic type skills.

Responses to Sloan's comments above, particularly the last paragraph:

1. from Ken: "Many thanks for a helpful reply. Cognitive functioning is mediated by language, of course."

2. from Richard Lynn: "Good reply. (You say) Many (ways)? What about the high crime rates of blacks in many countries?"

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Figure 1. Per capita GDP vs. national average IQ. The regression line is shown in red.. Notice how GDP is positively correlated to average IQ. The correlation coefficient is 0.733, IQ explaining 54 percent of the GDP variance. Values this large are rare in social science. In the social sciences, correlations of 0.2 are said to be "low," 0.4 are "moderate," and 0.6 are "high." So 0.73 is most impressive.

South Africa is the world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium and diamonds. None of this has much to do with human resources. Barbados and Qatar have also been favored with wealth-producing assets. Barbadian economy is based mostly on tourism. Exceptional year-round climate combined with proximity to the US strengthens its economic base irrespective of IQ. Similarly, oil revenue accounts for Qatar's extraordinary GDP. Finally, with a market economy being necessary for prosperity, we find Communist China, with a mean IQ of 100, producing more like a country with a mean of 83. When the four outliers are removed, the correlation grows from 0.73 to 0.79. In this case, 62 percent of the remaining GDP variance is now explained by IQ.

In Figure 2 below, the data is divided into contributions from four groups: blacks, (European) whites, East Asians and "others," The "others" include Asian Indians, Latin Americans, Pacific Islanders, Middle Easterners, other Asians, etc. Many of these countries have racially or ethnically heterogeneous populations. The outliers (South Africa, Barbados, Qatar and China) are not included in the graph:

Figure 2. Per capita GDP by racial group. "White" here means European white; "East Asian" means the racially homogenous polities: Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan. IQs cluster by race.

Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, all with homogeneous populations, have the highest IQs reported here. We might therefore expect them to be among the wealthiest of nations. Their numbers, especially those of Taiwan and South Korea, however, tell another story. With average IQs of 104 and 106, respectively, per capita GDPs of about $13,000 seem much too low for Taiwan and South Korea.

Country average IQ and per person GDP ($13.000 for Taiwan)

Taiwan 104 13,000

South Korea 106 13,478

Hong Kong 107 20,763

Japan 105 23,257

The observations raise questions about East Asian achievement. IQ alone does not determine wealth. Perhaps East Asians are wanting in other attributes. Or, maybe there are aspects of Eastern culture that undercut creativity. These questions need to be investigated.