Where are we at with national IQ databases? 12 key issues and one live experiment

Since the publication of the first estimates of country-level intelligence by Richard Lynn in 1991, systematic databases of national IQs have been constituted and regularly updated (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002; Lynn & Becker, 2019; Becker, 2023). These databases have made their way into public discourse, often in the form of "world maps of IQ"; for many non-specialists, this is the only point of entry into the scientific literature on intelligence. This means the robustness and validity of national IQ estimates provided by the databases are especially critical. We will provide an overview of 12 key aspects of the national IQ databases that merit closer scrutiny (predominant use of Wechsler scales and Raven's matrices; use of PISA-like assessments as proxy for IQ; possible contribution of non-intellectual individual differences between countries; effects of contextual differences in data collection on country scores; methods for sample selection and inclusion; representativeness of samples for their respective countries as a whole; methods for extracting IQ estimates; causal interpretation of correlations involving national IQs; interpretation of differences between countries as genetically driven; interpretation of differences between countries as evolved racial differences; policy recommendations based on national IQs; political use of national IQ estimates). We will also collect the audience's opinions through a live survey available at any point during the talk, and we will discuss the results as a conclusion.