What is the Normal Range for IQ?

IQ scores between 85 and 114 indicate a normal range or average intelligence. Individual adults usually score somewhere in between the 70-129 range, with 100 being the theoretical average.

If you score above 129, then you would have a score higher than the average population, and below 70 would be lower than the average population.

Do average IQ scores differ across countries?

According to research by the Ulster Institute in 2019, the three countries with the highest average IQ are Japan (106.48), Taiwan (106.67), and Singapore (105.89). The average IQ in China is 104.1, placing it in the top five countries with high IQs, together with Hong Kong in fourth place. Meanwhile, the average IQ in the US is 97.43, which means it’s not in the top 10 countries. Still, you can see that people in most countries have an average human IQ in the range of 70 to 107.

Do these average scores prove anything about the intelligence of people from different countries? No. It only shows that one approach to measuring intelligence can’t be applied to everyone, as social, economic, and political factors affect people’s performance.

In fact, if we look at other types of intelligence tests by country, we can see that the same countries rarely made it to different top 10 lists.