Home > Archive > Volume 52, No. 1 > This paper

IQ, Socio-economic and Intellectual Achievements of Ashkenazi Jews

Richard Lynn

10.46469/mq.2011.52.1.1

Published: 2011/09/01

Abstract

Ashkenazi (European) Jews have high average earnings, educational attainment, socio-economic status, and intellectual achievements. It is proposed that these can be at least partially explained by their high average IQ, which is estimated at 110. The Mizrahim (Oriental) and the Ethiopian Jews have lower IQs, estimated 91 for the Mizrahim and 70 for the Ethiopian Jews. There have been three principal explanations offered for the high average IQ of the Ashkenazi Jews. These are the Eugenic, the Persecution, and the Discrimination hypotheses. All provide plausible explanations and it may well be that all three of the factors they point to have contributed to this remarkable phenomenon.

   Download PDF