The 25 Smartest Countries in The World 2021

Collectively, we humans are a pretty clever bunch. During our short time on this planet, we’ve split the atom, traveled to space, built the limited-slip differential, and invented an umbrella for dogs. Yep, all clever stuff.

But (most of) these inventions, discoveries and great leaps forward are collective efforts rather than the inspired genius and toil of one lonely, dedicated man or woman. Which begs the question (sort of), of which is the cleverest nation in the world?

Tokyo is Japan's capital and a hotbed of intellect, innovation and education. It's also one of the world's greatest cities to visit as a tourist.

Which people have contributed the most to our advancement as a species? Which does best at school, and which has the highest IQ. All important contributing factors when deciding where to visit next, no doubt. Luckily though, Vouchercloud has done the legwork for you and diligently researched and ranked the top 25 countries in the world by intelligence.

It quantifies intelligence to include the number of Nobel Prizes each nation has won to represent historic intelligence, the current average IQ and ‘education attainment’ to represent the potential intelligence of the next generation.

Despite topping two of the three ranking categories, Singapore only makes 25th on the list. Expect that to change in the future though…

Asia and Europe dominate the list, with Japan taking the top spot thanks to its high placing across all three metrics where it came fifth overall in the school test ranking and sixth overall in both Nobel prizes and current IQ. The US comes in an impressive fourth, although its ranking is flattered greatly by its extraordinary dominance in the Nobel category where at 368 prizes, it has nearly treble the UK in second place. However, in the current IQ, the US comes a lowly 28th and school ranking a middling 13th – neither of which bodes well for its future ranking.

And while Europe has an impressive five nations in the current top ten – Switzerland in second, the Netherlands in fifth, Russia in the sixth, Belgium in seventh and the UK in eighth – it’s Asia that points to the future. Coming in at 25th on the ranking is Singapore – its position greatly skewed by its lowly ranking of 73rd for Nobel prizes when it ranks first in both current IQ and education attainment. See you at the top soon then, Singapore!

Nobel Prizes

The top 25 countries by Nobel Prize are, unsurprisingly, dominated by the Western world – what with it being a Western institution and all. Don’t expect that to stay the same over the coming years though, as the inexorable march of Asia’s intelligentsia rightly garners more and more awards.

Ranking	Country	Number of Nobel prizes
1	USA	368
2	UK	132
3	Germany	107
4	France	62
5	Sweden	30
6	Japan	26
6	Switzerland	26
8	Russia	23
8	Canada	23
10	Austria	21
11	Netherlands	20
11	Italy	20
13	Denmark	14
14	Norway	13
15	Australia	12
15	Poland	12
15	Israel	12
18	Belgium	10
18	India	10
18	South Africa	10
21	China	9
21	Hungary	9
23	Spain	8
24	Ireland	7
25	Czech Republic	5
25	Argentina	5

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Current national IQ

You’ll have to scroll down to seventh to step out of Asia on this list, with Finland the first Western country to make its mark. Go, Asia! While the US doesn’t even make the top 25 for national IQ, it’s perhaps surprising to see Mongolia storming into 12th spot with an average IQ bang on 100.

Ranking	Country	Average IQ
1	Singapore	107.1
2	China	105.8
3	Hong Kong	105.7
4	South Korea	104.6
4	Taiwan	104.6
6	Japan	104.2
7	Finland	100.9
8	Canada	100.4
8	Netherlands	100.4
10	Liechtenstein	100.3
11	Switzerland	100.2
12	Mongolia	100
13	Macao	99.9
14	Estonia	99.4
15	Belgium	99.3
16	Australia	99.2
17	UK	99.1
18	Austria	99
19	Czech Republic	98.9
19	New Zealand	98.9
21	Germany	98.8
22	Sweden	98.6
22	Iceland	98.6
24	France	98.1
24	Hungary	98.1

School Achievement

No huge surprise gave the IQ rankings, but Asia takes the top five spots for pupils achieving an advanced score at school. Russia takes the best of the rest medal in the sixth spot while the US comes in at 13th. The UK is nowhere to be seen but if there’s one surprise on the list, it’s most likely Kazakhstan in ninth.

Ranking	Country	% of students achieving advanced scores
1	Singapore	71.37
2	South Korea	66.85
3	Hong Kong	66.66
4	Taiwan	63.21
5	Japan	58.01
6	Russia	38.46
7	China	38.27
8	Macao	37.02
9	Kazakhstan	32.64
10	Liechtenstein	32.06
11	Switzerland	31.93
12	Ireland	30.03
13	US	29.84
14	Hungary	29.40
15	Israel	29.19
16	Belgium	28.76
17	Estonia	27.97
18	Denmark	27.51
18	Portugal	27.51
20	Norway	27.49
21	Poland	26.83
22	Lithuania	25.47
23	Finland	25.29
24	Netherlands	25.15
25	Cyprus	25.02

Source: Forbes