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, Netherlands in fifth, Russia in 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!