Fnord wrote:
You're both wrong.
Only half of the people in the world have less-than-average intelligence.
This equates to an IQ of 100.
An "Idiot" was once defined as a person with an IQ of 30 or less (They're now said to have Severe or Profound mental retardation).
Since intelligence has a statistical bell-curve distribution, this means that "Idiots" comprise less than less than 0.5% of the general population.
(Mental retardation affects about 2 to 3% of the total population; of these, 75 to 90% have mild retardation. This leaves less than 0.5% of the population. Ref: Daily DK, Ardinger HH, Holmes GE (February 2000). "Identification and evaluation of mental retardation". Am Fam Physician 61: 1059–67, 1070. PMID 10706158)
Enough said?
not entirely correct…
the
average is defined by ± 1 SD on the bell curve … this equals to appr. 68% of the population.
16% has less than average and 16% is above average. (± 2 SD)
of the rest, 4% has ± 3 SD and 0.2% has ± 4 SD, meaning that more than 2.1% is severely challenged.
a total of ~ 84% of the population ranges from −4 SD up to +1 SD.