James Robert Flynn

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Deceased (December 11, 2020)

In 1932, the average American would have scored 70 on a modern IQ test—the threshold for intellectual disability. By 2013, raw performance had climbed by 30 points, a finding confirmed by a 2015 meta-analysis of 271 studies in 31 countries with nearly 4 million participants. The data supported what psychologist James Flynn long argued: IQ scores have risen worldwide at roughly 3 points per decade throughout the 20th century.

Updated May 22