The Most Successful 0.2 Percenters

“Jews are a famously accomplished group,” says David Brooks , opening his column with an understatement. When the successes of the Jewish people are listed, it never fails to impress. Consider some of the examples Brooks gives:

They make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates.

Jews make up 2 percent of the U.S. population, but 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees, 37 percent of the Academy Award-winning directors, 38 percent of those on a recent Business Week list of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction.