What percentage of the population has IQ over 150?

Answer 1

Approximately .15-.17 percent of the population have an IQ over 150. Think about this. If 1% of a population of 100 is (1), then this means that of 1000 people, only 1-2 people have an IQ over 150.

It's rare, to say the least.

Something to consider: if you are a girl under the age of 16, or a boy under the age of 17 or 18, and you've been tested with a high IQ, don't take it very seriously. Cognitive strengths and, thus, IQ, don't really solidify before those respective ages in either gender.

I recently read of a three year old who was admitted into MENSA; it's absolutely preposterous that ANYONE can estimate a child's IQ at that age, when the brain is FAR from fully developed. All labeling a child as high IQ so young does is to set him up for stress and potential failure as he grows and develops. People will, in fact, likely have absurd expectations of him now, and he may well not be able to meet them.

*Now, this is the more important part: IQ is not a determiner of success; it is merely a standardized gauge of problem-solving potential. This might explain why some of the most successful people in history weren't nearly the smartest. Motivation, hard work, and persistence have an awful lot to do with success. In fact, they are a much, much better predictor of success than IQ has ever been. People should really focus less on as to what their IQ is quantified, and more on what they can do to improve themselves as individuals.

I can tell you, from personal experience, that IQ alone is NOT a singular predictor of success. Though I have tested several times throughout my adult life with an IQ of 153-157 (yes, it CAN fluctuate, depending on everything from mood, the testing agent, and even (in women) monthly hormonal fluctuation), I tend to stumble about trying to figure out what I want to do. (People with higher IQs DO tend to have a much higher rate of both adult-ADD (not ADHD) and boredom than many people--research soundly supports this). Having a higher IQ also means people expect much more of you. Hard work and persistence, indeed, are the strongest determinants of success in an individual.

Lastly, though there is a lot of speculation on the IQ of some historical figures, those are merely conjecture. For example: many people like to state that Albert Einstein had an IQ of 150; some even state that he actually scored low in IQ. Both accounts are complete falsehoods; Einstein never even took an IQ test.

Answer 2

Original answer was Five percent.

Wrong!

It depends. What's the standard deviation? If it's 15, a rather canonical one, we'd be talking ~2%, not five as so stated. If it's 24, another popular deviation, it would be around 12%. So, you see, you can't just ask what percent of the population has an IQ greater than some number, as the number is arbitrary until attached to an SD and mean of that population. If this is to complicated, then I suggest just thinking around 2%, as you'll be right probably about 70-80% of the time.

Answer 3

50%. By definition. That's what the IQ number is based on.

Answer 4

50%