The British. I think they have a larger vocabulary as well.

I think the idiots are proportional to the rest of the population wherever you are. I honestly find the two nations about the same. Although the stereotype is that we (the Americans) are the dumbest mo fos in the world lol

Probably the British (even though they seem even more fascinated with tabloids than we do). It seems like most of my fellow Americans just want to get off work, have a beer, and watch stupid sitcoms.

In general, I say British. Could be because there are simply more Americans.

Define educated. You could be educated without paying to sit in a classroom and receiving a diploma at the end. Harvard or Oxford or State U. or city college? All the same to me. Based on that, would say tie.

I don't really have anything to compare. I could check the United Nations Human Development Report for 2007/2008, but it's 400 pages and I don't feel like searching through all that for an answer.

It depends on how you define "educated". You may disagree with me, but in my view, the word evokes knowledge of the cultural icons of our society in particular and our world in general. Like some history, something about our music, our literature, our art, how did we get to where we are, what’s out there in the world and the universe, what characterizes each country and ethnic group, what trends of thought have impacted our evolution and our life. Trivialities like what artist is flirting with what other artist, how to operate a CD recorder or where to click to get to a website are not part of “educated” in my view. And highly specific job related knowledge is not part of it either (I see that more as “training” than education). With this view on mind, I’d say Europeans in general (regardless of the country) are more educated than US Americans in general. I find this to be particularly true when we talk about some professionals. For example, I’d say this about US engineers: On the one hand, they are among the most highly trained and most efficient professionals in the world. On the other, they are among the most culturally ignorant professionals in the world. (Notice that I’m only comparing among professionals – it would be unfair to compare a beggar to a professional, for example). (By the way, I've lived and worked in Europe, the US, Canada and South America).

British like to think themselves more educated and like to ask such questions. I know this because I know a lot of Brits. ( In fact, I knew even before I checked that this questioner was British.) Anyone who has visited Britain a few times knows they have more than their share of uneducated idiots who can barely put a sentence together in their own language. People who haven't been to the country think they all sound like the ones we see on BBC America. They DON'T! Trust me. In the end, it all evens out.