Average IQ in Australia
The average IQ in Australia is estimated at 98 to 99. The most-cited national IQ dataset (Lynn and Vanhanen, 2012) gives 98 from IQ test data and 99.2 once school results are included, on a scale where British norms equal 100.
The average IQ in Australia is about 98 to 99. What's yours?
25 questions · about 12 minutes
What would you score? Try question 1.
Which option completes the grid? One tap, no sign-up.
- 478
- PISA 2025 maths (OECD 463)
- 491
- PISA 2025 reading (OECD 461)
- 509
- PISA 2025 science (OECD 482)
- 268
- Adult numeracy, 2012 (not in the 2023 round)
Australian 15-year-olds score above the OECD average in PISA.
Where the figure comes from
Lynn and Vanhanen list Australia at 98 from IQ test results and 99.2 when school achievement is folded in, on a UK-normed scale. Australian psychologists usually use tests with Australian or US norms, on which the average is 100 by definition.
A point or two either side of the UK is inside the uncertainty of these compilations.
| Country | Measured IQ | Final IQ |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 100 | 99.1 |
| US | 98 | 97.5 |
| Canada | 100 | 100.4 |
| Australia | 98 | 99.2 |
| Finland | 97 | 100.9 |
Lynn and Vanhanen (2012), Table 2.1. Measured IQ uses IQ test results only; final IQ also folds in school achievement. Scale: UK norms = 100.
Australia in PISA 2025: what 15-year-olds can do
PISA tests 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science. It is not an IQ test, but it is the most current international comparison. In PISA 2025 Australian students scored above the OECD average in all three subjects, with maths down from 487 in 2022 to 478.
| Country | Maths | Reading | Science |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 488−1 | 494 | 511 |
| US | 463−2 | 490 | 502 |
| Canada | 485−12 | 490 | 510 |
| Australia | 478−9 | 491 | 509 |
| Finland | 469−15 | 474 | 504 |
| OECD | 463−9 | 461 | 482 |
PISA 2025 mean scores. The small figure under maths is the change since PISA 2022. The OECD flags that the US and Canada did not fully meet its 2025 sampling standards. Source: OECD (2026), PISA 2025 Results, Volume I, Table I.1.
Adult skills: the OECD Survey of Adult Skills
Australia did not take part in the 2023 round of the Survey of Adult Skills. In the first round (2011 to 2012), Australian adults averaged 280 in literacy and 268 in numeracy, above the international average for literacy. The two rounds should not be compared directly.
| Country | Literacy | Numeracy | Solving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | 296 | 294 | 276 |
| England | 272 | 268 | 259 |
| Canada | 271 | 271 | 259 |
| US | 258 | 249 | 247 |
| OECD | 260 | 263 | 251 |
Survey of Adult Skills 2023 (PIAAC cycle 2), mean scores for adults aged 16 to 65. Solving is adaptive problem solving. Source: OECD (2024), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive?
Is the average IQ in Australia rising or falling?
We found no recent Australian study of IQ score trends that we could verify, so we do not claim a direction. Across wealthy countries, scores rose by about 3 points a decade for most of the 20th century (Flynn, 1987).
School data show a recent dip: Australia's PISA maths average fell from 487 in 2022 to 478 in 2025, and reading from 498 to 491, while science rose slightly. PISA measures schooling as well as reasoning, so this is not an IQ trend.
Why national IQ figures are contested
Different tests
National figures combine different instruments, such as Raven's matrices, Wechsler scales and school assessments like PISA, taken in different years and converted to one scale. The 98 to 99 for Australia inherits every step of that conversion.Sampling
Some national estimates rest on small or unrepresentative samples, such as one city, school or age group. Reviews such as Wicherts, Dolan and van der Maas (2010) found that sample choices can move a country figure by many points.Education and health
Scores rise with years of schooling, nutrition, health care and familiarity with timed tests, so a national average partly measures those conditions rather than a fixed trait.The Flynn effect
Raw scores on many tests rose by roughly 3 points a decade during the 20th century (Flynn, 1987), and some countries have since seen plateaus or declines. The year a sample was tested changes the number.Not about individuals or ethnicity
The spread of scores inside Australia, as in any country, is far wider than the gap between countries. A national estimate says nothing about any person, and it is not evidence about ethnicity or genetics.
Average IQ in Australia: questions people ask
What is the average IQ in Australia?
Did Australia take part in the latest adult skills survey?
What is a good IQ score in Australia?
Can a country average tell me my IQ?
What's your IQ?
Put your own number next to Australia's estimate of 98 to 99.
25 questions · about 12 minutes
Sources
- Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2012). Intelligence: A Unifying Construct for the Social Sciences. Ulster Institute for Social Research (Table 2.1).
- OECD (2026). PISA 2025 Results, Volume I (Table I.1).
- OECD (2023). PISA 2022 Results, Volume I: The State of Learning and Equity in Education.
- NCES (2013). Literacy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments Among U.S. Adults (NCES 2014-008), Table D-1.
- Flynn, J. R. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: What IQ tests really measure. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 171-191.
- Wicherts, J. M., Dolan, C. V., & van der Maas, H. L. J. (2010). A systematic literature review of the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans. Intelligence, 38(1), 1-20.
- Sear, R. (2022). "National IQ" datasets do not provide accurate, unbiased or comparable measures of cognitive ability worldwide. PsyArXiv.
Reviewed October 2026 by the LifeScore Editorial Team. Country averages say nothing about any individual.