The Declining Western IQ

The IQ's of western society have been on the downtrend for the past 30 years as a result of general society degradation.

The IQ test has been the most formative measurement of intelligence created.

The IQ test has been the most formative measurement of intelligence created. Similar to the standardized examination system first invented by the Chinese, it seeks to reduce cultural bias and rank students on a scale based on their intellectual abilities with the use of abstract problem sets. It is the most correlative test created by sociologists thus far and can account for about .16 percent of the variance in a person's economic success.

It has also been noted to affect the rise of fall of societies and nations in accordance with their economic contributions. In past century, the world has seen a marked rise in its IQ as better access to food, healthcare, and education allowed people the freedom to pursue intellectual domains.

This rise in intelligence as a direct result of economic betterment is known as the Flynn effect. And yet, despite western societies becoming somewhat wealthier (or at the very least not becoming poorer) in the past 30 years, we have seen a marked drop in their national IQ.

The most intelligent (intelligence as a function of the IQ test) nations are now almost exclusively in East Asia with the patent levels reflecting the market cultural rejuvenation. South Korea, a small nation of 50 million produces more patents than the entirety of Europe combined, which indicates both the country's meteoric rise and Europe plummet in innovativeness.

Despite claims that this drop is due to immigration from poorer countries, there is a great deal of evidence that suggest IQs are dropping between generations.

A study in Finland measured the IQ of all conscripted military personnel and found that there has been a .23 point IQ drop every years since the 1980s.

The younger generations are significantly less intelligent than their grandparents and this is reflected in most western societies around the globe with the exclusion of Italy. Immigration, as concluded from the study, has actually increased the average IQ because the influx of college educated expats from other countries.

So what is behind this drop in intelligence? Some have hypothesized that it is due to increased access to information as technology has made the average student much lazier. However, students from East Asia are far more technologically connected than ever before and yet no negative Flynn effect is observed.

The most likely answer is multivariable. The rise in obesity, the opioid epidemic, as well as the stagnant economic futures of the western middle class are contributing to this IQ spiral. The average urban Chinese citizens is now twice as wealthy as the average American thus speaking to both the dynamisms of Chinese society and the degradation of America.

The IQ spiral is reflective of a deep structural decline in the West and will likely continue except unless extensive reforms are implemented. Could the West implement the reforms necessary to combat this decline? Yes. Will it actually do so? Probably not.