What is the average IQ of Somalians

1. Direct answer: the claimed number and its provenance

A number that circulates online and in partisan commentary—“average IQ of 68 for Somalia”—appears in blogs and political posts and is repeated in some media sharing that claim ^{[1] [4]}. That claim is traceable to aggregated country‑ranking lists and secondary summaries rather than to large, representative, peer‑reviewed studies focused on Somalia; the specific provenance and raw data for the “68” figure are not documented in the provided reporting ^{[1] [5]}.

2. What the main IQ aggregators say (and don’t say)

Major online compilations of national IQ scores present global rankings and methodologies that normalize test results to a mean of 100 and discuss calibration using standard tests like Raven’s matrices and WAIS, but these projects also emphasize variable data quality across countries and rely on differing samples and adjustments ^{[6] [5]}. Some platforms claim extensive sample sizes and year‑to‑year stability for many countries, yet they warn that countries with too few test‑takers can be unreliable; several sources note that certain nations—Somalia among them—have insufficient participation to yield robust national averages ^{[3] [2]}.

3. Methodological limits that matter for Somalia specifically

Aggregated “average IQ by country” products frequently merge test‑site self‑selected samples, national assessments, and statistical adjustments; they explicitly acknowledge that low sample counts, selection bias, nutritional and disease burdens, education access, and test‑familiarity all influence cross‑national comparisons ^{[3] [5]}. Reporting about Somalia highlights a lack of comprehensive testing participation and representation, which means any single point estimate for Somalia’s national IQ—if offered—rests on thin empirical ground and large uncertainty ^{[2] [3]}.

4. The political life of a number: agendas and amplification

The “68” figure has been amplified in partisan and extremist commentary to support political narratives about migration, public safety, or cultural worth, a pattern visible in right‑wing blogs and in social posts that repackage dubious statistics for rhetorical effect ^{[1] [4]}. The available sources show both the claim and the channels that spread it, but they do not provide robust primary data to justify the number; accordingly, the circulation of a low, precise IQ number for Somalia should be read as a political artifact as much as a scientific finding ^{[1] [4]}.

5. Responsible interpretation given the evidence

Given the documented methodological caveats and explicit notes that Somalia lacks comprehensive representation in many datasets, the responsible position is that there is no reliably established, peer‑validated national average IQ for Somalia available in the cited reporting; isolated claims such as “68” exist and are documented in online commentary, but they lack transparent, representative data in these sources ^{[2] [1] [3]}. Aggregators show how country averages are constructed and warn about small samples, which reinforces that uncertainty for Somalia in particular ^{[6] [3]}.

6. Bottom line and next steps for verification

The clearest conclusion from the provided reporting is that a specific average IQ for Somalia cannot be stated with confidence: a low figure is circulating in partisan outlets and social posts, but major IQ compendia and critical writeups note Somalia’s absence or insufficient data and flag methodological limitations—so the claim should be treated as unverified rather than definitive ^{[1] [2] [3]}. To move beyond circulation and conjecture requires transparent, representative testing data or peer‑reviewed analysis that explicitly documents samples, instruments, and adjustments—items not present in the provided sources ^{[3] [5]}.