Are we getting dumber? IQ scores going down

August 23, 2014  19:36

Technology may be getting smarter, but humans are getting dumber, according to a surprising new study.

Evidence suggests that the IQs of people in the UK, Denmark, and Australia have declined in the last decade, NewsMax Health reports.

An IQ test used to determine whether Danish men are fit to serve in the military has revealed scores have fallen by 1.5 points since 1998. And standard tests issued in the UK and Australia echo the results, according to journalist Bob Holmes, writing in New Scientist.

Why? Some suggest we have reached our intellectual peak as a species.

Between the 1930s and 1980s, the average IQ score in the US rose by three points and in post-war Japan and Denmark, test scores also increased significantly — a trend largely tied to improved nutrition, living conditions, and better education.

But the new findings suggest that, since the 1980s, IQ scores are not just leveling off, but declining.

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