Data on the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices from four Serbian samples

Previous studies have found the mean IQs for countries in the Balkans such as Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey range from 89 to 94. This is lower than the mean IQ of 100 for other European countries. To examine this issue further, we tested 608 17–65-year-olds (418 males; 190 females) from four different communities in the Republic of Serbia over a two-year period using the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices. Analyses showed that an average of 48 of the 60 matrices was solved (SD = 10), which is at the 31st percentile on the 1993 American standardization, equivalent to an IQ of 93. If an adjustment is made for the increase in American norms of two IQ points a decade from the 1993 standardization to the date of the study (2007 = 14 years), the Serbian IQ is reduced to 90. If a further reduction is made of two IQ points because the American IQ is 98 due to the inclusion of African Americans with a mean IQ of 85, the final best estimate of the Serbian IQ is 88. There were no significant differences between Muslims and Christians or males and females.