PISA 2012 study results were published today. The participants were 15-year old pupils from 44 countries. This study concentrated more on the ability to apply your knowledge and solve problems so it is more closely related to an IQ test than the former ones that to a greater extent measured acquired knowledge. This brought about some differences compared with the previous PISA studies: for example England did much better this time and was the second best European country after Finland. Not surprisingly East Asian countries and regions topped the list again. What was remarkable about Finland's results was that the girls scored much better than the boys. Finland is the only country in TOP 20 with girls performing better. That was however the case with Sweden and Norway, too. Just as in the previous PISA test, Estonia performed very well and was the third among Europeans.

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings...volume-V.pdf

1. Singapore 562
2. Korea 561
3. Japan 552
4. Macao-China 540
5. Hong Kong-China
6. Shanghai-China 536
7.Chinese Taipei 534
8. Canada 526
9. Australia 523
10. Finland 523
11. England (United Kingdom) 517
12. Estonia 515
13. France 511
14. Netherlands 511
15. Italy 510
16. Czech Republic 509
17. Germany 509
18. United States 508
19. Belgium 508
20. Austria 506
21. Norway 503
22. Ireland 498
23. Denmark 497
24. Portugal 494
25. Sweden 491
26. Russian*Federation 489
27. Slovak Republic 483
28. Poland 481
29. Spain 477
30. Slovenia 476
31. Serbia 473
32. Croatia 466
33. Hungary 459
34. Turkey 454
35. Israel 454
36. Chile 448
37. Cyprus* 445
38. Brazil 428
39. Malaysia 422
40. United Arab Emirates 411
41. Montenegro 407
42. Uruguay 403
43. Bulgaria 402
44. Colombia 399

That's pretty much in line with the standardized IQ tests on adults which put Italians among the most intelligent Europeans.