A Flynn Effect in Riyadh, the Capital of Saudi Arabia

Homoud Abdullah Saad Almoghyrah, Salaheldin Farah Attallah Bakhiet, Edward Dutton, Guy Madison, Mohammed Mohammed Ateik Al-Khadher, Shehana Mohammed Alqafari, Tahanei Abdulrahman Muhammed Blahmar, Reham Anwar Mohammed Hassen and Yousif Balil Bashir Maki

Published: 2025/03/01

Abstract

There is evidence that the Flynn Effect is plateauing or even reversing in many Western countries, while it is still found in many developing countries. In order to understand the causes of these differences, as well as the Flynn Effect as such, data from diverse samples are needed. Here, we compare two similar and representative samples of schoolchildren with an average age of 12 years from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, tested in 2004 and 2018. We find that the test performance was higher in 2018, corresponding to 6.6 IQ points. We suggest that this represents part of a long-term Flynn Effect caused by broad societal changes, having considered other feasible explanations such as internal migration patterns or reforms in education policy.

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