Australian IQs getting higher thanks to technology

AUSTRALIANS are getting smarter, with IQs increasing up to three points every five years.

And according to the country's elite IQ society it is thanks to technology exposing us to more information and a wider vocabulary.

But many bright sparks are in the dark about their intelligence levels.

"Only 1000 Australians are members of the Mensa community and as they represent the top two percentage in intelligence in the country, it would suggest that hundreds of thousands of people are not aware of their IQ levels or have been tested through other means," said Mensa Australia recruitment officer Suzanne Rogashoff.

Mensa has 170 Queensland members and of the 19 youth members, most are under 13.

According to the Queensland Association of Gifted and Talented Children there are 80,000 gifted students enrolled in Queensland schools and 400,000 across the nation.

Seven-year-old Gold Coast girl Jessie Duduc has an IQ of 131 and is one of the elite Mensa high IQ set. A pupil at King's Christian College, she has been fast-tracked into the top level of Year 3.

"After preschool we home-schooled Jessie for a year as we found that she needed brain food to keep her from getting frustrated. She missed Grade 2 and went straight to Grade 3," said her mother Darilyn.

The increase in intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world since 1930 is known as the Flynn Effect, after New Zealand academic Professor James Flynn.

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