Sport > World > Lists > Earnings > ESPN > Countries > 2011 > GDP List

Here is an analysis of the highest paid athletes from each country of the world in 2011, using figures from ESPN The Magazine. Data from 182 countries were analyzed. Per Capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product), a leading indicator of national wealth, is the market value of a country's goods and services divided by its population.

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The most represented sport is soccer with 114 out of 182 countries ranked (63%), followed by basketball 18, baseball 12, auto racing 6, golf 5, American football 5, hockey 5, cricket 4, boxing 3, track and field 3, rugby 2, tennis 2, badminton 1, cycling 1, motorcycle racing 1, sumo 1, yachting 1.

Notes

• This list is only based on the highest paid athlete from each country based on the official base salary or earnings from the most recently completed season or calendar year, but does not include endorsements, appearance fees, sponsorship money and other sources of extra income.
• Only countries are listed from which an official salary data was available. No figures were available from Afghanistan, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Salaries not available for Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Bonaire, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Dominica, East Timor, Grenada, Mauritus, Micronesia, Monaco, Monserrat, Myanmar, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grendadines, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos or Yemen.

Source

• This data was published in ESPN The Magazine (May 2, 2011).

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Related Pages

• More ESPN lists
• other sporting lists, including the Forbes list of the World's Best Paid Athletes
• More about the World of Sport