It’s official! Oldest kids are the SMARTEST in the family

Sorry, younger siblings! The eldest child in a family is the smartest, new research has found.

A study published in the Journal of Human Resources has found that firstborn kids outperform their younger siblings on cognitive tests beginning from infancy.

The reason they are better set up for academic and intellectual success? It’s all down to mum and dad and the undivided attention they get in the early years.

“First-time parents tend to want to do everything right and generally have a greater awareness of their interactions with and investments in the firstborn,” said Jee-Yeon K. Lehmann, co-author of the research, told NBC’s TODAY.

“With each subsequent child, parents tend to relax to a greater extent what they might deem as non-essential needs for their kids.”

While parents may love all their children equally, the eldest child is the one to receive the most attention and intellectual stimulation, giving them a clear advantage over their younger siblings.

As more children are born into the family, parents’ attention is divided and they have less time to dedicate to each child.

Other studies have also found that firstborns have a slight IQ advantage of a point or two over their siblings, are 30% more likely to be CEOs or politicians, and 7% more likely to aspire to stay on in education than their younger brothers or sisters, reports CNBC.

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