Most Successful Countries of All-Time: Per Capita (2016 UDATE)
Generally the most successful countries in terms of Olympic medals won are also some of the biggest countries in terms of population. This may seem unfair when comparing the success of countries, as the bigger countries have a larger population pool from which to develop athletes. Using per capita data to rank success of nations at the Olympic Games is an alternative to the popular way of ranking based on just total gold medals won.
The following analysis is based on the total medals won by a country throughout modern Olympic history (we have also calculated the per capita medal results for the 2008 Olympic Games, though with the small sample size a single medal to a small nation can make a big difference to the ranking).
Below are tables of the top countries based on the total all-time medals won during the Summer Olympics (including 2016 data), ranked relative to the nation's population (figures mostly from 2015).
See the complete medal list and population data from which this analysis is derived, and also a discussion of different ranking systems. We have also calculated lists based on medals per GDP.
The Finns are Best when you consider Total Medals
Finland is the most successful currently competing country at the Olympic Games based on their population size and the number of Olympic medals won (irrespective of whether you use the total golds or total medals metric). Finland have won 101 gold medals in 25 appearances at the Summer Olympics, with a current population of 5.5 million people. Denmark, with a similar population and from the same region, have won only 45 gold medals. Many of Finland's medals were gained in early last century, with only a few medals won in recent Olympiads.
A country which has leaped into the top 10 is the small nation of Grenada which won its first gold medal in 2012, when runner Kirani James won the Men's 400 meters (and a silver to add to that in 2016), coming from a population of just over 100,000. Another standout on the top 10 list is another Caribbean country The Bahamas, with their 6 gold medals from sailing and athletics, and with a current population of less than 400,000 people.
When using this method to rank countries for the 2008 Olympic Games results, smaller countries tended to dominate the list, as it only required a medal or two for them to rank highly. Using the all-time list as done here provides a larger data set and gives a more accurate and representative result.
The two tables below show the ranking based on (1) gold medals won, and (2) total medals won.
Table: Top ranked teams based on GOLD MEDALS per million population
Jamaica is the country jumping into the top 10 after a successful 2016 Games.
rank | Country | Gold | est. population | total gold
/million pop |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Finland | 101 | 5,493,577 | 18.39 |
2 | Hungary | 175 | 9,823,000 | 17.82 |
3 | Bahamas | 6 | 378,040 | 15.87 |
4 | Sweden | 147 | 9,906,331 | 14.84 |
5 | Norway | 56 | 5,236,826 | 10.69 |
6 | New Zealand | 46 | 4,710,740 | 9.76 |
7 | Grenada | 1 | 103,328 | 9.68 |
8 | Jamaica | 23 | 2,723,246 | 8.45 |
9 | Denmark | 45 | 5,724,456 | 7.86 |
10 | Bulgaria | 51 | 7,153,784 | 7.13 |
Table: Top ranked teams based on TOTAL MEDALS per million population
rank | Country | Total Medals | est. population | total medals /million pop |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Finland | 303 | 5,493,577 | 55.16 |
2 | Hungary | 491 | 9,823,000 | 49.98 |
3 | Sweden | 494 | 9,906,331 | 49.87 |
4 | Bahamas | 14 | 378,040 | 37.03 |
5 | Denmark | 194 | 5,724,456 | 33.89 |
6 | Bulgaria | 214 | 7,153,784 | 29.91 |
7 | Norway | 152 | 5,236,826 | 29.03 |
8 | Jamaica | 78 | 2,723,246 | 28.64 |
9 | Estonia | 34 | 1,315,944 | 25.84 |
10 | New Zealand | 117 | 4,710,740 | 24.84 |
The Caribbean is the place to be
As pointed out in several intelligent comments about the above results, I have come to realize that the figures above may not best represent per capita medals. The data does not account for the number of appearances of each country. For example, it is not fair to compare the total medal count of the UK who have appeared at all 28 Olympic Games with China, who have appeared only 10 times. A better analysis would be to base the analysis on the average number of medals won per appearance, not on the total medal count.
After crunching the numbers after the 2016 Olympics, the results are quite different to those above. We have listed only currently competing countries. If included, the East Germans would be the top ranked per capita medal winning country based on average medal counts, having produced a large number of gold medals relative to its population in its five appearances at the Olympics. There is no doubt that the East Germans had some talented athletes and a very well organized sports development program, though it is now known that systematic doping took place which would account an unfair boost in their medal count. Also considering it is no longer in existence as such, I am happy to ignore the East German results, which leave Grenada as the most successful country per capita.
The small nation of Grenada won its first medal, a gold, at the 2012 Olympics, in its eighth appearance at the Games. Finland was also put down a place by another Caribbean country The Bahamas, who have done well to win 6 golds in their 16 appearances.
Table: Top ranked teams based on AVERAGE GOLD MEDALS per million population
If included, the East German team would top this list, with 153 gold medals in five Olympic Games and an estimated population of 16.1 million, average gold medals per million population would be 1.90.
rank | Country | No. Olympics | Gold | est. population | Ave No. Golds | Ave Gold /million pop |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Grenada | 9 | 1 | 103,328 | 0.1 | 1.08 |
2 | Bahamas | 16 | 6 | 378,040 | 0.4 | 0.99 |
3 | Finland | 25 | 101 | 5,493,577 | 4.0 | 0.74 |
4 | Hungary | 26 | 175 | 9,823,000 | 6.7 | 0.69 |
5 | Estonia | 12 | 9 | 1,315,944 | 0.8 | 0.57 |
6 | Sweden | 27 | 147 | 9,906,331 | 5.4 | 0.55 |
7 | Kosovo | 1 | 1 | 1,836,978 | 1.0 | 0.54 |
8 | Jamaica | 17 | 23 | 2,723,246 | 1.4 | 0.50 |
9 | Norway | 25 | 56 | 5,236,826 | 2.2 | 0.43 |
10 | New Zealand | 23 | 46 | 4,710,740 | 2.0 | 0.42 |
Table: Top ranked teams based on AVERAGE TOTAL MEDALS per million population
If included, the East German team would top this list, with 409 total medals in 5 Olympic Games and an estimated population of 16.1 million, average medals per million population would be 5.08. Bahamas has jumped up to top this list after the 2016 Olympics, mainly due to poor returns from Finland and Estonia. Grenada jumped into the top 10 too with a second medal to runner Kirani James.
rank | Country | No. Olymp. | total medals | est. population | Ave Total Medals | Ave Medals /million pop |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bahamas | 16 | 14 | 378,040 | 0.9 | 2.31 |
2 | Finland | 25 | 303 | 5,493,577 | 12.1 | 2.21 |
3 | Estonia | 12 | 34 | 1,315,944 | 2.8 | 2.15 |
4 | Grenada | 9 | 2 | 103,328 | 0.2 | 2.15 |
5 | Hungary | 26 | 491 | 9,823,000 | 18.9 | 1.92 |
6 | Sweden | 27 | 494 | 9,906,331 | 18.3 | 1.85 |
7 | Jamaica | 17 | 78 | 2,723,246 | 4.6 | 1.68 |
8 | Slovenia | 7 | 23 | 2,063,371 | 3.3 | 1.59 |
9 | Bulgaria | 20 | 214 | 7,153,784 | 10.7 | 1.50 |
10 | Belarus | 6 | 85 | 9,498,700 | 14.2 | 1.49 |
Table Notes:
- The data includes all medals won at the summer Olympic Games (including 2016). The original medal list source: Wikipedia.
- The population data was sourced from the Wikipedia page: List_of_countries_by_population, which contained the most recently known (as of Aug 2016) population data.
Further Analysis?
Of course there are also some other issues with the current analysis. In most cases the most current population data is used for analysis here, even though many of the medals were won during earlier Olympics were the population would have been lower. The assumption is that the relative populations between countries is similar over time, but this is probably not always the case. This analysis also assumes an even distribution of medals over time, which is also not correct. Finland may historically be the best performing country per capita, but they may not currently be as successful as they have been in the past.
Related Pages
- calculated lists based on medals per GDP.
- the complete medal list and population data
- 2018 Winter Olympic Games medal table per capita
- Medals per Country Size — comparing medals with country size (both size and population)
- a discussion of different ranking systems.
- medal tables from all Olympic Games
- about Olympic Medals
1) the per-capita statistics above are highly erroneous as they only use 2 factors current population and total medals won. The current population has no relevance for many counties to the population that won medals at early Olympic Games.
2) Factors such as number of medals available at each Olympics and number of countries participating and their populations then have not been considered. It was much easier to win medals at the early Olympics as there were a lot of medals available and far less countries competing for them.
3) Team size is irrelevant. A country will qualify and send all athletes that they can. If a country of 10 million only qualifies 1 athlete and he wins a medal then the population of 10 million produced that 1 medal winner. A 100% success rate for that team is statistically meaningless.
4) Per-capita calculations do not favor small countries. If the USA, China, India, Russia etc were sufficiently dominant they should win all the medals between them and no small countries should win anything. If a small country wins a medal against the odds they deserve to be recognized as achieving highly per capita.
I am currently producing a spreadsheet that accounts for all relevant factors (population of each country at the date of each Olympics, number of countries represented and the total population represented at the Olympics, number of gold medals available. After completing the analysis on 13 of the Olympics so far the standings are as follows (for the number of times the allocated gold medals a country has won):
FINLAND = 13.14 times their allocated gold medal haul
NEW ZEALAND = 11.98 times their allocated gold medal haul
SWEDEN = 6.8 times their allocated gold medal haul
HUNGARY = 6.68 times their allocated gold medal haul
AUSTRALIA = 3.25 times their allocated gold medal haul
Based of more recent Olympic results, New Zealand is likely to take the top spot as in several recent Olympics Finland have won very few gold medals. However it is very clear that New Zealand and Finland are clearly the most consistent overachievers at the summer Olympics.
add up all the people living in these countries and it becomes much more likely that at least ONE of those people will get a gold medal (and therefore send their country to the top of the rankings). (from Aaron, Aug 2012)