Cambodia was recently ranked 15th out of 199 nations for average IQ, placing it second in Southeast Asia behind Singapore, according to the World Population Review, an independent organisation based in the US state of California.

In 2023, the average IQ of Cambodians is 99.75. Japan has the highest average, at 106.48, followed by Taiwan. Singapore places third in the world, and number one in Southeast Asia.

The review placed Cambodia one place ahead of Canada and several above the UK, US and France. China, Macau and Belarus all placed above the Kingdom.

Nepal, with an average IQ of 42.99, was at the bottom of the list.

Ros Soveacha, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, said each nation in the world has different levels of IQ. Rankings depend on research methods and the data accumulated.

“Every country needs people with all kinds of IQ, to achieve solidarity and achieve the vision of that nation. In addition to IQ, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence and other levels of intelligence should be taken into account as well,” he added.

According to the World Population Review, IQ scores typically reflect the quality of education and resources available to people. Areas of the world with lower IQ scores are typically poorer and less developed, particularly in the area of education, compared to countries with higher IQ scores.

Mao Sreng, director of both IDP Education (Cambodia) and Australian Centre for Education (ACE), agreed that the levels of people’s intelligence and knowledge have a direct correlation with education and the resources available to them.

He noted, however, that he found the sources used to determine the World Population Review’s rankings vague and disputed by other academics.