title: Literacy not intelligence moderates the relationships between economic development, income inequality and health.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Kanazawa (2006) presented data allegedly supporting a racist version of evolutionary psychology that claims that the populations of wealthier and more egalitarian societies live longer and stay healthier, not because they are wealthier and more egalitarian, but because they are more intelligent. The objectives of this study are: (i) to determine the relationship between IQ and literacy in Kanazawa's sample of countries and (ii) to reanalyse Kanazawa's dataset using measures of literacy in lieu of national IQ test scores.
  
  
  METHODS
  Correlation and regression were employed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  National literacy scores across the countries in the sample are highly skewed. In spite of this, the literacy measures are highly correlated with alleged differences in national IQ (r = .83-.86). The measure of literacy together with economic development (GDPpc) and income inequality (Gini coefficient) control at least 59-64% of the variance in national life expectancy at birth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is no scientific justification for believing that alleged intelligence differences play any role in explaining international differences in health status. Measures of alleged national IQ scores are highly confounded with differences in literacy. Literacy is a key factor in the health of any community and policies designed to enhance the literacy of a population are expected to lead to significant improvements in health status.
authors: Department of Psychology, City University, UK. d.marks@city.ac.uk
authors: David F
authors: DF
authors: Marks
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors