The Smartest Countries in the World, 2025: Global IQ Rankings

Summary

CEOWORLD’s 2025 global IQ rankings list national average IQs and highlights where cognitive capital is concentrated. Japan tops the table (106.48), followed closely by Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. The piece explains what IQ measures, notes its limitations and cultural biases, and links high averages to strong education systems, policy choices and R&D investment. It also flags countries with very low reported averages and frames those figures as symptoms of systemic underinvestment in education and infrastructure rather than innate ability.

Key Points

Top five countries by average IQ (2025): Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China.
IQ tests assess memory, problem-solving, language and numeracy; global average is set at 100.
High national averages often reflect effective education policy, STEM focus and R&D investment.
Rankings have caveats: testing methods, cultural bias and within-country variance limit what IQ alone can tell us.
Lowest averages shown for some countries highlight the impact of poverty, instability and weak education systems — an “intelligence divide” with policy implications.
For investors and CEOs, these rankings are a proxy for human capital, workforce readiness and long-term innovation potential.

Why should I read this?

Quick and useful — if you hire internationally, plan R&D, or pick markets to target, this saves you time: know where the concentrated cognitive talent pools are and why they matter. It’s not a personality test for nations, but it signals where the skilled teams and innovation ecosystems are strongest (and where they urgently need investment).

Context and Relevance

The rankings sit at the intersection of education policy, economic strategy and talent planning. East Asia’s dominance (Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea) underlines decades of STEM emphasis, disciplined schooling and heavy investment in technology and semiconductors. Europe and North America show broad mid- to high-range scores reflecting established education systems, while low-end results expose regions where development barriers restrict human-capital formation.

For executives and policymakers, the practical takeaways are straightforward: invest in education and skills to build long-term competitiveness; consider human-capital metrics when evaluating locations for talent, R&D and capital allocation; and approach IQ data with healthy scepticism — use it alongside measures of creativity, social capital and economic opportunity.