Per Capita Olympic Medal Table

Which is the most successful Olympic Nation ?

Few would doubt that the former East Germany would have been a major contender for this title. Indeed. this country of 16 million inhabitants competed at par with giants USA and USSR.

Yet it is tiny Liechtenstein that takes this honour. Having won 9 olympic medals is a major achievement for a country of 35,000 inhabitants.

The following list shows the relative number of medals won by each country:

Column 'years' lists the years during which the country competed in the Olympics - countries no longer active are not numbered in the ranking. Column 'med' shows the number of medals won (since 1948). Column 'inh' is the number of inhabitants (mid 2009, x000) Column 'N-Oly' is the number of Olympic games that the country has competed in. adjusted for medal count per olympiad. The 2008-2010 Olympics (Beijing and Vancouver combined) count for 1 = 1219 medals, but the 1948 Games count only 0.393 (479 medals). The last column should be read : medals per 10 million inhabitants per standard Olympiad.

rk10	rk08	rk06	country		years		med	inh	N-Oly	rel
1	1	1		Liechtenstein	48	10	9	36	10.589	239.42
				East Germany	68	88	515	17579	3.647	80.33
2	2	2		Norway	48	10	319	4762	10.589	63.26
3	3	3		Finland	48	10	261	5310	10.589	46.42
4	4	4		Hungary	48	10	380	10032	10.589	35.77
5	5	5		Sweden	48	10	335	9214	10.589	34.34
6	6	9		Bahamas	52	10	10	335	10.196	29.28
7	7	6		Bulgaria	48	10	219	7569	10.589	27.32
8	8	7		Switzerland	48	10	218	7617	10.589	27.03
9	9	8		Estonia	92	10	17	1340	4.739	26.77
10	10	10		Austria	48	10	228	8338	10.589	25.82
11	11	14		Slovenia	92	10	22	2029	4.739	22.88
12	12	16		Belarus	94	10	75	9675	3.930	19.72
13	13	17		Jamaica	48	10	54	2688	10.589	18.97
14	14	12		New Zealand	48	10	83	4268	10.589	18.37
15	15	13		Australia	48	10	414	21338	10.589	18.32
16	16	11		Tonga	88	10	1	103	5.454	17.80
17	17	15		Denmark	48	10	103	5494	10.589	17.70
18	21	21		Latvia	92	10	17	2266	4.739	15.83
19	18	20		Cuba	48	10	183	11236	10.589	15.38
20	20	19		Netherlands	48	10	248	16433	10.589	14.71
21	19	18		Bermuda	48	10	1	65	10.589	14.51
22	24	26		Croatia	92	10	24	4433	4.739	12.85
23	22	22		Romania	48	10	291	21508	10.589	12.78
				Czecho-Slovakia	48	92	134	15809	6.659	12.73
24	26	24		Czech Rep.	94	10	44	10408	3.930	12.22
25	23	27		Iceland	48	10	4	315	10.589	11.99
26	25	23		Germany	92	10	466	82143	4.739	11.97
27	30	29		Slovakia	94	10	24	5401	3.930	11.31
28	27	25		Virgin Islands (US)	68	10	1	113	8.386	10.55
29	28	30		Georgia	94	10	18	4360	3.930	10.50
30	31	28		Trinidad & Tobago	48	10	14	1305	10.589	10.13
				West Germany	68	88	238	64564	3.647	10.11
31	29	32		Lithuania	92	10	16	3358	4.739	10.05
				Germany (E+W)	48	64	167	82143	2.203	9.23
32	32	31		Canada	48	10	309	33213	10.589	8.79
33	35	35		Mongolia	64	10	19	2652	8.884	8.06
34	34	33		Italy	48	10	497	59760	10.589	7.85
				Soviet-Union	52	88	1193	284206	5.457	7.69
35	33	54		Armenia	94	10	9	2996	3.930	7.64
36	36	36		Kazakhstan	94	10	45	15655	3.930	7.31
37	37	34		Russia	94	10	407	141841	3.930	7.30
38	38	38		France	48	10	440	62028	10.589	6.70
				Yugoslavia (1945-1991)	48	88	75	20337	5.850	6.30
39	39	39		Poland	48	10	252	38111	10.589	6.24
				Unified Team CIS	92	92	134	277242	0.809	5.98
40	40	37		Luxembourg	48	10	3	488	10.589	5.81
41	41	44		Great-Britain	48	10	373	61446	10.589	5.73
42	42	47		Ukraine	94	10	101	46222	3.930	5.56
43	45	45		U.S.A.	48	10	1690	305146	10.589	5.23
44	43	43		Belgium	48	10	59	10697	10.589	5.21
45	46	41		Netherl. Antilles	52	10	1	196	10.196	5.00
46	44	53		Azerbaijan	94	10	16	8178	3.930	4.98
47	47	52		Korea. Republic	48	10	260	50187	10.589	4.89
48	48	40		Suriname	68	10	2	516	8.386	4.62
49	50	50		Greece	48	10	54	11239	10.589	4.54
50	49	51		Ireland	48	10	21	4467	10.589	4.44
51	53	48		Barbados	68	10	1	282	8.386	4.23
52	54			Serbia	10	10	3	7352	1.000	4.08
53	52	46		Namibia	92	10	4	2089	4.739	4.04
54	55	49		Djibouti	88	10	1	506	5.454	3.62
55	56	55		Moldova	94	10	5	3760	3.930	3.38
				South Africa (- 56)	48	56	21	48483	1.265	3.40
		56		Serbia & Montenegro (=Yugoslavia 1992-2003)	92	06	12	7978	3.739	3.14
56	57	57		Japan	48	10	354	127674	10.589	2.62
57	51	42		Qatar	88	10	2	1448	5.454	2.53
58	58	58		Korea. People's Dem Rep	72	10	43	23867	7.867	2.29
59	59	60		Spain	48	10	108	45661	10.589	2.23
60	60	61		Kenya	56	10	74	37954	9.765	2.00
61	62	59		Uruguay	48	10	7	3350	10.589	1.97
62	64	63		Portugal	48	10	19	10649	10.589	1.68
63	63	65		Uzbekistan	94	10	18	27345	3.930	1.67
64	65	78		Kyrgyzstan	94	10	3	5281	3.930	1.45
65	66	64		Puerto Rico	48	10	6	3958	10.589	1.43
66	61			Bahrain	80	10	1	1084	6.694	1.38
67	67	62		Macedonia (FYROM)	96	10	1	2039	3.780	1.30
68	68	66		Guyana	48	10	1	736	10.589	1.28
69	73	81		Zimbabwe	80	10	8	11350	6.694	1.05
70	70	69		Turkey	48	10	79	71002	10.589	1.05
71	69			Mauritius	72	10	1	1269	7.867	1.00
72	71	73		Argentina	48	10	42	39737	10.589	1.00
73	72	71		Israel	52	10	7	7018	10.196	0.98
74	74	68		Lebanon	48	10	4	4142	10.589	0.91
75	77	72		Costa Rica	48	10	4	4389	10.589	0.86
76	78	80		Panama	48	10	3	3310	10.589	0.86
77	76	74		Chinese Taipei	56	10	19	22996	9.765	0.85
78	75	70		South Africa	92	10	19	48783	4.739	0.82
79	79			Tajikistan	94	10	2	6839	3.930	0.74
80	80	76		Tunisia	60	10	7	10325	9.324	0.73
81	81	75		Morocco	60	10	21	31606	9.324	0.71
82	82	67		Eritrea	98	10	1	5028	3.089	0.64
83	84	79		Chile	48	10	11	16454	10.589	0.63
84	83	77		Iran	48	10	48	72269	10.589	0.63
85	85	84		Ethiopia	56	10	38	78254	9.765	0.50
86	88	87		China	80	10	431	1324681	6.694	0.49
87	87	94		Dominican Rep.	64	10	4	9507	8.884	0.47
88	86	93		Singapore	64	10	2	4839	8.884	0.47
89	89	85		Algeria	64	10	14	34574	8.386	0.46
90	91	88		Brazil	48	10	88	187163	10.589	0.44
91	90	86		Mexico	48	10	49	106683	10.589	0.43
92	92	90		Venezuela	48	10	11	27884	10.589	0.37
93	93	83		Kuwait	68	10	1	3530	8.386	0.34
94	94	89		United Arab Emirates	80	10	1	4660	6.694	0.32
95	96	95		Thailand	52	10	21	64316	10.056	0.32
96	97	92		Cameroon	64	10	5	18468	8.884	0.30
97	95	82		Burundi	96	10	1	8691	3.780	0.30
98	98	91		Hong Kong	52	10	2	6992	10.196	0.28
99	99	101		Colombia	48	10	10	44442	10.589	0.21
100	100	96		Uganda	56	10	6	29166	9.765	0.21
101	101	99		Syria	48	10	4	19514	10.589	0.19
102	102	97		Zambia	64	10	2	11670	8.884	0.19
103	103	98		Paraguay	68	10	1	6238	8.386	0.19
104	105	102		Egypt	48	10	14	74805	10.589	0.18
105	104			Togo	68	10	1	6762	8.386	0.18
106	106	100		Ghana	52	10	4	23383	10.196	0.17
107	107	112		Ecuador	60	10	2	13481	9.324	0.16
108	108	104		Nigeria	52	10	23	146255	10.196	0.15
109	109	106		Malaysia	56	10	4	27027	9.765	0.15
110	110	103		Mozambique	80	10	2	21285	6.694	0.14
111	111	105		Peru	48	10	4	28534	10.589	0.13
112	112	111		Indonesia	52	10	25	234342	10.196	0.10
113	113	108		Saudi Arabia	72	10	2	24780	7.867	0.10
114	114	110		Sri Lanka	48	10	2	19394	10.589	0.10
115	115	107		Senegal	64	10	1	12688	8.884	0.09
116	116	109		Niger	64	10	1	14731	8.884	0.08
117	117	115		Pakistan	48	10	10	161910	10.589	0.06
118	118	113		Côte d'Ivoire	64	10	1	19624	8.884	0.06
119	119	114		Tanzania	64	10	2	40213	8.884	0.06
120	120	116		Philippines	48	10	4	90227	10.589	0.04
121	122	118		Vietnam	80	10	2	88537	6.694	0.03
122	121			Afghanistan	48	10	1	28266	10.589	0.03
123	123	117		Iraq	48	10	1	29492	10.589	0.03
124	124			Sudan	60	10	1	39445	9.324	0.03
125	125	119		India	48	10	15	1147996	10.589	0.01

Other countries that are still waiting for their first medals.

(if you are wondering what the list looked like before Sydney, here it still is. Here was the list before Salt Lake City, here before Athina, here before Torino, here before Beijing, here before Vancouver)

I have compiled this list by myself. I do not claim it is completely correct. but have worked hard at making it as correct as possible.

Check my Home Page for my other intrests (including two non-olympic Sports, Bridge and Cricket)

Adapted after Vancouver 2010-02-28