The smartest countries in the world: ranking of the smartest countries

During the twentieth century, mankind was able to reach unprecedented heights in science, industrialization, and medical development. People created powerful engines, flew into space, and began to perform operations without incisions. All this makes us think about the question of which country is the smartest in the world.

It is quite difficult to make such a rating. There is no comprehensive assessment of the "intelligence" of the nation, as the British publisher Vouchercloud has thought about.

Rating criteria

The Vouchercloud portal has for the first time developed a methodology for calculating the ranking of the smartest countries. It is noted that it will be finalized in accordance with current trends. In order to compile the list, the following evaluation criteria were used:

• number of Nobel Prize winners from the state (past estimate);
• the population's achievements in science and education (future assessment);
• Average IQ (to assess current knowledge).

Проверка осуществлялась экспертами по всему миру, после чего Vouchercloud обнародовал рейтинг самых умных стран мира на 2024 год. В нем наглядно показано, каким образом производился расчет.

Number of Nobel Prize winners

Нобелевская премия — престижная награда, присуждаемая ежегодно за достижения в области науки, культуры и искусства. Список лауреатов строго учтен. При подсчете имеет значение не место рождения гражданина, а его гражданство, что очень важно.

The electronic portal has counted the number of recipients for the entire period of the prestigious award.

The population's success in learning

To assess achievements in science and education, the degree of schoolchildren's learning and willingness to work for results were investigated. This allows us to find out what the prospects are for young citizens of the country to make scientific discoveries in the future.

The raw data used was the percentage of students with the highest score on the exam.

Average IQ level

Intelligence quotient is translated into Russian as "intelligence quotient," based on the ratio of mental age to biological age. The test, developed by psychologists, was an official attempt to assess the general intelligence of the population.

The IQ of mankind has been calculated for more than 100 years. It is done by the average of predetermined tests, which calculate how educated people are at different ages. The first study was conducted by researcher Richard Lynn, who published the book "IQ and the Wealth of Nations" in 2002.

Издательство провело собственный анализ данных по странам. Итоги были поразительными: первые пять мест — азиатские страны. Сингапур, Китай, Гонконг, Южная Корея и Тайвань.

List of smartest countries

The rating was based on the average value of all three items. The result was as follows:

Note that the table is stacked according to the places on the lists. For example, the number of scientists who received the Nobel Prize from different countries may be the same.

Map of Nobel laureates by country

The prize has been awarded since 1901. About 1,000 scientists, writers, and companies have received the honorary award. The maximum number of these went to the U.S., 325 copies. The map clearly shows how the prize was distributed by country and by part of the world.

Латинская Америка и Ближний Восток — обладатели наименьшего числа наград. Двадцать три были вручены организациям, одну получил русский писатель Иван Бунин, пребывавший в это время в Париже и имевший статус лица без гражданства.

Top 10 smartest countries in the world

We present a detailed description of the "Smartest Countries" ranking by the example of the top 10 of the list.

Japan

Одна из самых высокотехнологичных стран в мире по праву занимает первое место. Японцы 25 раз становились лауреатами престижной международной награды. Основное направление исследований — физика, химия. Последняя премия досталась Ёсинори Осуми в 2016 году за открытие механизмов аутофагии в медицине.

Japanese children study diligently, following the example of parents who stay late at work. This country has a special attitude to study and work. The IQ level of its citizens is very high.

Switzerland

The Swiss live in a developed country and know how to grow capital. An evaluation of the mental knowledge of the younger generation and mature citizens has shown that they are far more intelligent than the Austrians and Danes. Swiss citizens have received the Peace Prize three times. The last to receive recognition from the King of Sweden was chemist Jacques Dubochet. He developed the technique of cryoscopy, designed to determine the structure of molecules.

China

The IQ level in China is very high. By this indicator, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are second only to Singaporeans. Education in China is treated responsibly. Private schools are developing along with public educational institutions. The workload of children is huge, they focus on in-depth study of mathematics, foreign languages. Universities have a narrow focus.

Граждане, получившие престижный шведский приз имени Альфреда Нобеля, — 8 человек. Последний из них удостоился чести в 2015 году, это Юю Ту, открывший новые методы борьбы с малярией.

USA

If you look closely at the table, it is clear that the U.S. is not the leader in terms of IQ tests and prospects in science. This state has been actively accepting migrants throughout the 20th century, betting on their intellectual abilities. The term "brain drain" was first coined by the British during World War II, but processes have occurred before.

Так, Эмилио Сегре, выросший в Италии, вынужден был эмигрировать в США, где открыл антипротон и стал Нобелевским лауреатом. Похожие истории у экономистов Василия Леонтьева, Саймона Кузнеца, писателя Исаака Зингера. Все они получили премии, будучи гражданами США. Данная страна занимает первое место по количеству лауреатов в мире — 325 человек.

Netherlands

Fifth place goes to the Netherlands, whose citizens have a fairly high rate of intelligence, ranking eighth in this indicator. Dutch children go to school early, at age 4-5, education is free until age 16.

The country is proud of its cultural heritage: the painters Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, museums and art galleries in the cities. The Dutch are also proud of their scientists, physicists and chemists. The last Nobel laureate, Bernhard Fehring, designed molecular machines.

Russia

On the sixth line of the list was Russia. Among modern scientists the world contribution to science was made by five specialists. All of them are physicists (the year of the Nobel Prize is given in parentheses):

• Zhores Alferov (2000);
• Alexei Abrikosov (2003);
• Vitaly Ginzburg (2003);
• Konstantin Novoselov (2010);
• Andrew Geim (2010).

In the Russian Empire, two world-renowned doctors, immunologist Ilya Mechnikov and physiologist Ivan Pavlov, received the high honor. In the USSR, the award went to 15 citizens. Science was developing rapidly in the country. Efficiency was fueled by the government. During the military and scientific competition with the United States, the Soviet Union gave the world hundreds of discoveries.

The modern education system, according to international experts, needs to be reformed. 38,46% students received the highest mark in the exam, which is a good result.

Belgium

The country ranks in the top 15 in terms of intelligence quotient. The overall assessment score according to the Vouchercloud magazine study is 99.3. The Belgian students' assessment scores are not bad. 28,76% students get the highest marks in their exams.

Ten people with Belgian citizenship have won the Nobel Prize.

UK

Уступая по показателям настоящего и будущего вклада в науку, Великобритания дала человечеству исследователей в области наук (Дж. Томсон, П. Митчелл), медицины (Дж. Вейн, П. Нерс), литературы (Т. Элиот, Б. Шоу, Р. Киплинг). Все они получили престижную награду имени А. Нобеля. Число лауреатов — 113.

The educational factor in today's world does not give the country high marks. Although Britain's universities are included in lists of the most prestigious, innovation and new technologies come from the East today.

Canada

Жители Канады — образованные, способные граждане. Коэффициент интеллекта — 100.4 балла на душу населения. Канада — развитая страна, где школьное образование отвечает мировым стандартам качества и обязательно для всех. Школьники не показали при исследовании хороший результат, но оценка прошлого повлияла на место в итоговом рейтинге.

Canadian citizens have been awarded the prestigious Swedish Prize 11 times. Frederick Banting received it in 1923 for the discovery of insulin. It is noteworthy that the research was based on the work of Russian scientist L. Sobolev, which Banting was silent about.

Republic of Korea

South Korea excels in modern science, with an average IQ score of 104.6. 66,85% students received the highest test score, which corresponds to the second position in the world. South Korea was ahead of Singapore in the ranking.

The reason why the Republic did not rank among the top of the overall list of smart countries concerns an assessment of the past: representatives did not make great discoveries in science and medicine. The only Nobel Prize winner was President Kim Dae-jung, who strengthened relations with North Korea.

Conclusions

1. To assess which country has the smartest people, took the publication of the UK Vouchercloud. The calculation was made on the basis of three parameters: evaluation of the present (average IQ score), the past (the number of Nobel laureates from the country), the future (the percentage of students who scored the highest mark in the test).
2. The top five were Japan, Switzerland, China, the United States, and the Netherlands, with Russia in sixth place.
3. Когда результаты сообщили, это вызвало удивление. До этого момента Восток и Запад развивались по-разному. Страны не считались равнозначными по оценке интеллектуальных способностей. Сегодня можно сделать однозначный вывод: будущее науки и медицины находится в Азии. Самая умная страна — Япония.