Tatu Vanhanen

Who is Tatu Vanhanen?

Tatu Vanhanen is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere in Tampere, Finland. Vanhanen is a co-author of IQ and the Wealth of Nations and IQ and Global Inequality, and author of Ethnic Conflicts Explained by Ethnic Nepotism and many other works. His son, Matti Vanhanen, is a former Prime Minister of Finland.

Vanhanen developed interest in evolutionary biology after studying Edward O. Wilson's sociobiology and later in his career wrote about intelligence and inequality. However, most of his academic works are about democratization which he has studied with international comparative methods. Vanhanen is known for his Index of Democratization.

In 2004, the Ombudsman of Minorities Mikko Puumalainen wished that the police would start an investigation on Vanhanen's interview with a Helsingin Sanomat magazine Kuukausiliite, in which he stated that "Whereas the average IQ of Finns is 97, in Africa it is between 60 and 70. Differences in intelligence are the most significant factor in explaining poverty".