Professor at London School of Economics Publishes Paper Alleging Low Levels of Intelligence Are Responsible for Chronic Health Problems in Africa

Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, recently published an article in the British Journal of Health Psychology which analyzes health indicators in 126 nations around the world. The paper then correlates these health indicators with data on average IQ ratios in those countries. Professor Kanazawa reaches the highly inflammatory conclusion that the African states suffer from high rates of poverty and chronic health problems because their populations are on average less intelligent than people in countries on other continents.

Professor Kanazawa reports statistics which put Ethiopia’s average IQ at 63, the lowest in the world. He adds that life expectancy for both men and women in Ethiopia is around 40 years, among the lowest in the world.

As might be expected, Professor Kanazawa’s article has created an uproar on the London School of Economics campus. Black student groups claim that the professor is revisiting discredited theories of eugenics. The administration of the school released a statement which said, “This is academic research based on empirical data and published in a peer-reviewed journal. The school does not take any institutional view on the work of individual academics.”

Obviously the paper will face severe attack by professionals who will assert that the low “measured” IQ of Ethiopians has to do with educational and social factors and not inherent genetic differences.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.