Introduction

Forbes proves once again that the American press can’t be trusted. In their article "Ranked: The 25 Smartest Countries In The World" (Jan. 11, 2019), they discuss the concept of the "cleverest nation" in the world, focusing on IQ, educational attainment, and Nobel Prizes. As usual, they place China and East Asia at the top, with the United States far behind, somewhere in the middle, suggesting it needs to be more like Mexico.

In my essay "Lessons in How Diversity Destroys Schools," I explored issues of educational attainment and IQ, preferring the term "achievement." Here, I turn to Nobel Prizes in science and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores to evaluate which countries truly excel, challenging media narratives that often overlook cultural and demographic factors.

PISA Scores: A Closer Look

U.S. White and Asian American students score among the top globally on the 2018 PISA scores, surpassing most European nations and even top Asian countries like Japan (527), South Korea (526), and Taiwan (531). While China ranks first, this is based on selected scores from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang (BSJZ region, averaging 555), not the nation as a whole, which I find deceptive. Singapore, a small, wealthy enclave that is 76% Chinese, came in second with a mean score of 549. Here’s how various groups and countries performed on the 2018 PISA:

2018 PISA Scores by Education System
Source: OECD, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2018
Education System Mean Reading Math Science
China (BSJZ) 555 590 591 543
Taiwan 531 534 531 528
U.S. Asians 549 556 539 551
U.S. Whites* 521 531 503 529
United States 495 505 478 502
U.S. Two or More Races 492 501 474 502
OECD Average 488 487 489 489
Spain NA NA 481 483
U.S. Hispanics 470 481 452 478
Chile 438 452 417 444
U.S. Blacks 436 448 419 440
Uruguay 424 427 418 426
Mexico 416 420 409 419
Costa Rica 415 426 402 416
Colombia 405 412 391 413
Peru 402 401 400 404
Brazil 400 413 384 404
Argentina 395 402 379 404
Panama 365 377 353 365
Dominican Republic 334 342 325 336

*Note: Whites are a diverse group with higher average poverty rates than Asians. Their scores are further dragged down by including some Middle Eastern and North African groups as White, who often score as poorly as Blacks in areas like Dearborn and Detroit.

Hispanics, low-achieving third-world refugees, illegal aliens, migrants, and others flooding the country, along with native-born Blacks, drag down the U.S. average. So-called "educators" struggle to educate these children, often refusing to treat them with the same expectations as White students, which exacerbates the problem.

Nobel Prizes: Science Achievements

Now I turn to Nobel Prizes in science (Physics, Chemistry, Medicine), as other categories like Peace, Literature, and Economic Sciences are often subjective or political and less reflective of true achievement. The United States leads the world with 411 awards overall, followed by the United Kingdom with 138, Germany with 115, and France with 70 (NobelPrize.org, 2025), though these totals include non-science categories. In science alone, the U.S. has 270, the UK 88, Germany 78, and France 37. Communist China has 1 science prize, while Taiwan has 0.

South Africa

South Africa has 5 science Nobel Prizes (Chemistry: 2, Medicine: 2, Physics: 1), all awarded to White South Africans. The country scores poorly on PISA and reportedly has a pass rate of 33%, reflecting broader educational challenges as it faces decline, similar to Zimbabwe’s trajectory from prosperity to a failed state.

Israel

Israel has 5 science Nobel Prizes (Chemistry: 5), earned through rigorous scientific work, though its overall total of 12 includes non-science categories like Peace and Literature.

Poland

Poland has 6 science Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, Physics), excluding the Curies, who earned their awards in France. France provided the academic and cultural environment that enabled their success, so their prizes (Physics 1903, Chemistry 1911) are credited to France, not Poland. Poland’s science winners, such as Georges Charpak (Physics, 1992), surpass Israel and South Africa (5 each).

India

India has 1 science Nobel Prize (Chemistry: C.V. Raman, 1930) for work done in India. Indian-born Americans have earned 3 additional science prizes (e.g., Chemistry: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, 2009), highlighting how the U.S. environment fosters greater achievement than India’s system.

China and Taiwan

Communist China has 1 science Nobel Prize (Medicine: Tu Youyou, 2015, for her discovery of a malaria treatment). Taiwan has 0 science prizes under this criterion, as Yuan T. Lee (Chemistry, 1986), often credited to Taiwan due to his citizenship, conducted his work at UC Berkeley in the U.S. Americans of Chinese ancestry, such as Chen Ning Yang (Physics, 1957), Tsung-Dao Lee (Physics, 1957), Charles K. Kao (Physics, 2009), Samuel C.C. Ting (Physics, 1976), and Steven Chu (Physics, 1997), are counted among the U.S.’s 270 science prizes, as they earned their awards in the U.S., benefiting from its culture of freedom and innovation, not China’s system.

Japan

Japan has 22 science Nobel Prizes (Physics: 9, Chemistry: 8, Medicine: 5), making it a strong performer in scientific achievement, with winners like Shinya Yamanaka (Medicine, 2012) contributing to global innovation.

Recent Nobel Prizes

The 2021 science Nobel Prizes align with this trend. In Physics, the prizes went to Syukuro Manabe (Japanese American), Klaus Hasselmann (German), and Giorgio Parisi (Italian). In Chemistry, Benjamin List (American) and David W.C. MacMillan (American, born in Scotland) were honored. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to David Julius (American) and Ardem Patapoutian (American, born in Lebanon). In 2020, all 9 science winners were White. In 2019, 8 were White, and 1 was Japanese.

Other Countries

Spain has 2 science Nobel Prizes (Medicine: 2). Argentina has 3 (Chemistry: 1, Medicine: 2). Ireland has 0 in science. Hungary has 11 (Chemistry: 6, Medicine: 4, Physics: 3), surpassing Israel, Spain, and Communist China in science awards, though some winners were born outside present-day Hungary.

The Role of Immigration

Forbes published "Immigrants Keep Winning Nobel Prizes" (Oct. 7, 2021), highlighting 2021 science winners like Syukuro Manabe (Japanese American), David W.C. MacMillan (American, born in Scotland), and Ardem Patapoutian (American, born in Lebanon). These high-achieving immigrants thrive in the U.S.’s environment, but they are a small fraction of those entering the country. Many immigrants—low-achieving third-world refugees, illegal aliens, and migrants—create diversity chaos, strain the welfare system, and drag down educational outcomes, as seen in PISA scores.

Media Bias and Cultural Impact

Communist China cannot outcompete the United States in scientific innovation, with only 1 science Nobel Prize compared to the U.S.’s 270. Americans of Chinese ancestry win science prizes in the U.S., while Communist China often resorts to stealing Western technology. The U.S. remains a free nation where innovation and hard work thrive in a culture of freedom. In contrast, China’s stifling dictatorship hinders innovation, a problem also seen in the former Soviet Union.

Integrated Whale Media, a Hong Kong-based company with ties to Communist China, owns a majority stake in Forbes, raising concerns about Chinese influence (Washington Post, Dec. 14, 2017). This may explain Forbes’ pro-China, open-borders stance. They, along with greedy business interests and liberal advocates, support mass immigration from low-achieving, low-PISA-score nations, which I believe is detrimental to the U.S.

To sum up, be wary of the press and do your own research. Cultural and family factors, not systemic racism, drive educational and scientific disparities, as seen in both PISA scores and Nobel Prize outcomes. The country where a prize is earned—where the cultural and systemic environment enables success—should be credited, as seen with the Curies in France and Chinese Americans in the U.S.

Intelligence Capital Index

Another interesting metric is the "Intelligence Capital Index" (ICI), defined by Kai L. Chan as: "The Intelligence Capital Index (ICI) is a way to gauge the ability of countries to capitalize on the knowledge economy by assessing their environments for education, creativity, and talent attraction. The ICI is a barometer of a nation’s stock of ‘smarts’."

The top 10, as of April 4, 2017, are:

Communist China ranks 30th, behind Italy, while Mexico is 61st at 30.23. Vietnam, despite scoring high on PISA in 2012, ranks 84th at 25.13. High PISA scores don’t guarantee a country can utilize its talent effectively, often due to cultural and systemic barriers.

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