10 What kind of people are Members of Mensa?
Description
This article is from the Mensa FAQ, by Phil Hill phil@miracle.com with numerous contributions by others.
10 What kind of people are Members of Mensa?
Mensa: We Think, Therefore We Are. Mensans are the kind of people you
meet every day ... except that they enjoy using their minds more than
most. And they have IQ scores that would impress their neighbors!
Today there are some 100,000 Mensans in 100 countries throughout the
world. There are active Mensa organizations in 18 countries in Europe,
North America and around the Pacific Rim. American Mensa, Ltd. has
some 150 local chapters with more than 50,000 members. Founded at
Oxford University in 1946, Mensa has three stated purposes: to identify
and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, to encourage
research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence, and to
promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its
members.
There is simply no one prevailing characteristic of Mensa members other
than high IQ. There are Mensans for who Mensa provides a sense of
family and others for who it is casual. There have been many marriages
made in Mensa but for many people, it is simply a stimulating
opportunity for the mind. Almost certainty most Mensans have a good
sense of humor and they like to talk. And, usually, they have a lot to
say.
Mensans range in age from 4 to 94, but most are between 20 and 49. In
education they range from preschoolers to high school dropouts to people
with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans on welfare and Mensans who
are millionaires. As far as occupations, the range is staggering.
Mensa has professors and truck drivers, scientists and firefighters,
computer programmers and farmers, artists, military people, musicians,
laborers, police officers, glassblowers - you name it. There are famous
Mensans and prize-winning Mensans, but there are many, many whose names
you wouldn't know.
* MENSA DEMOGRAPHICS (USA)
64.4% male, 35.4% female (0.2% won't say)
54% between 30-49 years of age, 14% under 29, 0.32% over 80
31.2% in first marriage, 29.82% never married, 13.32% divorced once,
9.53% in second marriage after a divorce
Just over half have no children, 12.4% have one child, 18.66% have 2,
9.95% have 3, 4.37% have 4, 1.29% have 9+
about 30% earn $20-40,000, 10% earn $50-75,000, 9% earn $40-50,000
and about 0.5% earn more than $250,000.
17.93% Master's degree or equivalent, 17.56% four year graduates,
one in 11 are Ph.D.s.
41% work in private industry, 13% in government, 13% self employed.
88% European ancestry.
49% Christian, 3% Unitarian, 9% Jewish, 7% agnostic, 3.6% atheist,
9% no religion
14% only children, 19+% older of two, 12.5% younger of two,
11.5% oldest of three, 6.8% middle of three, 5.8% youngest of three,
9.7% oldest of more than three, 10.8% middle of four or more,
4.4% youngest of four or more
Computer related occupations 10%, 3.75% own their own business,
Electrical Engineers are 2.6%, 7.5% are in education, 3% lawyers,
0.11% judges, 0.02% are in astronomy.
* WORLDWIDE NUMBER OF MEMBERS
Country Members USA 50483 New Zealand 327 UK+Ireland 35608 Denmark 295 Canada 2546 Austria 287 Malaysia 2181 Channel Islands 257 Germany 1204 Spain 251 Finland 1107 Singapore 245 Yugoslavia 1100 India 200 Australia 961 Sweden 146 Netherlands 922 Belgium 117 Czechoslovakia 715 Japan 101 France 708 Switzerland 101 Poland 700 Hong Kong 100 Italy 400 OTHER 320 South Africa 395 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Total Worldwide Membership 101813
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