Education is a global experience, but it is far from common in approach. Children and adults study in a variety of settings across the world, from high-tech classrooms in bustling cities to open-air learning under trees in remote communities.

Examining these variations has never been more important, given that growing living expenses, ongoing wars, and increasingly prevalent natural disasters—not to mention the lingering impact of the worldwide pandemic—affect access to education.

That's why Serpple, a complete SEO tool, surveyed to determine the world's brightest nations.

The study considered three main factors: the number of universities in the country, the number of Nobel prizes earned by each country, and the degree of tertiary education.

After weighing each element, each country's ultimate IQ score was computed, and they were ranked accordingly.

Here are the five smartest countries in the world according to this data:

Iceland

Iceland was rated the world's brightest country, with a total intelligence score of 47.43.

The country boasts the third-highest number of universities per 100,000 citizens, making higher education more accessible to its populace.

This is evident in that nearly half (43.56%) of Iceland's population has a university degree.

It also has the third-highest number of Nobel Prizes per 100,000 residents (0.25), trailing only Luxembourg which holds top position with 0.30.

That equates to two Nobel awards for its population of roughly 668,000, which is a remarkable performance given the rarity of the prizes.

Latvia

Latvia was voted the second smartest country, with a total score of 47.16, only 0.27 points behind Iceland.

Latvia has the largest number of universities per 100,000 residents in the top ten (2.94), greatly outperforming well-known nations such as Norway (0.84) and Denmark (1.36).

Just under 40% (39.47%) of Latvia's population used the plethora of universities to obtain a university qualification.

Slovenia

Slovenia completed the top three with an overall score of 43.91. It has the second-highest number of universities per 100,000 inhabitants, with 40.11% of the population having completed a higher education degree.

Ireland

Ireland finished fourth in the standings with a score of 43.38, just 0.53 behind Slovenia.

It had the second-highest percentage of residents with a university degree, at 54.39%, after Canada, which had the highest at 62.74%.

Ireland has much fewer universities per 100,000 residents than the other top five nations; although they all had more than two per 100,000, Ireland had only 1.35.

Estonia

Estonia, the second Baltic state in the top five, finished in fifth place with an overall score of 42.45. The country has 2.28 universities per 100,000 population, and 42.10% of Estonians hold a university degree.

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Ranking the world's brightest nations: Top smartest countries revealed