PH IQ falls below average, study says

BY KHIM BRYAN REBUTA

Inatimeofhistorywhereeducationismostaccessible,andwiththeprevalenceof modern technology, one would naturally assume that human intelligence is soaringtonewheights.However,arecentreportrevealedotherwise.

According to the World Population Review (WPR) in 2023, the Philippines has a below-averageintelligencequotient(IQ),withanaveragescoreof81.64.

Ranking at the 111th spot out of 199 countries, the Philippines is one of the Southeast Asian countries falling below the average IQ range of 85-115, along with Cambodia (114th) and Indonesia (130th) Japan topped the list with 10649 IQ average, closely followed by Taiwan with 106.47. Here are the top 10 countries and theircorrespondingIQaverages:

1 Japan-10649

2 Taiwan-10647

3 Singapore-10589

4 HongKong-10537

5 China-10410

6 SouthKorea-10235

7 Belarus-10160

8 Finland-10120

9 Liechtenstein-10107

10 Netherlands&Germany-10074

According to the WPR, IQ scores are indicative of the quality of education and availability of resources within a local geographic region This follows that a country with a lower average IQ score is commonly poorer and less developed, particularly in education

In a report in CNN Philippines, Maria Rosario Vergeire, Health Officer-In-Charge of the Department of Health (DOH) stated that malnutrition affects child brain development She further added that socioeconomic environment, such as the parents' educational attainment, can also affect the IQ of a child On the other hand, clinical psychologist Fab Calipara clarified that IQ is not a fixed trait. It could be increased depending on the stimulations done to the brain

Calipara further emphasized that IQ average does not absolutely measure one's capacity as there are multiple intelligences