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 34,000 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Column 'years' lists the years during which the country competed in the Olympics - countries no longer active are not numbered in the ranking.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 2003, x000) Column 'N-Oly' is the number of Olympic games that the country has competed in. adjusted for medal count per olympiad. The 2002-2004 Olympics (Athina and Salt Lake City combined) count for 1 = 1160 medals, but the 1948 Games count only .413 (479 medals). The last column should be read : medals per 10 million inhabitants per standard Olympiad.

rk04	rk00	country		years		med	inh	N-Oly	rel
1	1		Liechtenstein	48	04	9	34	9.859	268.48
			East Germany	68	88	515	17677	3.833	76.01
2	2		Norway	48	04	266	4569	9.859	59.05
3	3		Finland	48	04	243	5212	9.859	47.29
4	4		Hungary	48	04	370	10136	9.859	37.02
5	5		Sweden	48	04	304	8958	9.859	34.42
6	8		Bulgaria	48	04	213	7786	9.859	27.75
7	9		Bahamas	52	04	8	314	9.447	26.97
8	7		Switzerland	48	04	189	7336	9.859	26.13
9	10		Austria	48	04	186	8054	9.859	23.42
10	6		Tonga	88	04	1	102	4.464	21.96
11	21		Estonia	92	04	11	1353	3.712	21.90
12	16		Slovenia	92	04	14	1971	3.712	19.13
13	11		New Zealand	48	04	74	4001	9.859	18.76
14	14		Australia	48	04	363	19880	9.859	18.52
15	12		Belarus	94	04	52	9881	2.862	18.39
16	13		Denmark	48	04	96	5387	9.859	18.07
17	17		Jamaica	48	04	43	2644	9.859	16.50
18	15		Bermuda	48	04	1	64	9.859	15.85
19	19		Cuba	48	04	159	11295	9.859	14.28
20	18		Netherlands	48	04	223	16238	9.859	13.93
21	20		Romania	48	04	283	21616	9.859	13.28
22	26		Latvia	92	04	11	2324	3.712	12.75
			Czecho-Slovakia	48	92	134	15404	6.997	12.43
23	23		Virgin Islands (US)	68	04	1	111	7.545	11.94
24	22		Germany	92	04	366	82604	3.712	11.94
25	25		Czech Rep.	94	04	3	10002	2.862	11.53
26	24		Iceland	48	04	3	290	9.859	10.49
27	46		Croatia	92	04	16	4428	3.712	9.73
			West Germany	68	88	238	64927	3.833	9.56
28	28		Trinidad & Tobago	48	04	12	1279	9.859	9.52
29	34		Slovakia	94	04	14	5402	2.862	9.06
			Germany (E+W)	48	64	167	82604	2.315	8.73
30	33		Lithuania	92	04	11	3464	3.712	8.55
31	35		Georgia	94	04	12	4934	2.862	8.50
32	32		Italy	48	04	453	57033	9.859	8.06
33	37		Canada	48	04	241	31590	9.859	7.74
34	30		Mongolia	64	04	15	2493	8.068	7.46
35	31		Kazakhstan	94	04	31	14790	2.862	7.32
			Soviet-Union	52	88	1193	287149	5.734	7.25
36	39		Russia	94	04	299	144893	2.862	7.21
37	27		Qatar	88	04	2	626	4.464	7.16
38	36		Luxembourg	48	04	3	453	9.859	6.72
39	41		France	48	04	380	59773	9.859	6.45
40	47		Netherl. Antilles	52	04	1	169	9.447	6.26
41	40		Poland	48	04	234	38623	9.859	6.14
42	38		Suriname	68	04	2	435	7.545	6.09
			Unified Team CIS	92	92	134	280018	0.850	5.63
43	29		Namibia	92	04	4	1927	3.712	5.59
44	42		Belgium	48	04	57	10341	9.859	5.59
45	45		Great-Britain	48	04	324	59164	9.859	5.55
			Yugoslavia (1945-1991)	48	88	75	22702	6.147	5.37
46	44		U.S.A.	48	04	1518	291587	9.859	5.28
47	48		Ukraine	94	04	72	47856	2.862	5.26
48	51		Djibouti	88	04	1	457	4.464	4.90
49	43		Barbados	68	04	1	272	7.545	4.87
50	54		Greece	48	04	50	11001	9.859	4.61
51	49		Ireland	48	04	18	3969	9.859	4.60
52	53		Korea. Republic	48	04	204	47925	9.859	4.32
53	57		Azerbaijan	94	04	9	8235	2.862	3.82
			South Africa (- 56)	48	56	21	45349	1.329	3.48
54	52		Armenia	94	04	3	3061	2.862	3.42
55	50		Moldova	94	04	4	4267	2.862	3.28
56	55		Serbia & Montenegro (=Yugoslavia 1992-2003)	92	04	12	10527	3.712	3.07
57	58		Japan	48	04	323	127546	9.859	2.57
58	59		Korea. People's Dem Rep	72	04	37	22466	6.999	2.35
59	62		Spain	48	04	92	42600	9.859	2.19
60	61		Kenya	56	04	60	31639	8.994	2.11
61	60		Uruguay	48	04	7	3380	9.859	2.10
62	56		Macedonia (FYROM)	96	04	1	2056	2.704	1.80
63	64		Portugal	48	04	17	10181	9.859	1.69
64	65		Uzbekistan	94	04	12	25640	2.862	1.64
65	63		Puerto Rico	48	04	6	3879	9.859	1.57
66	66		Guyana	48	04	1	778	9.859	1.30
67	-		Eritrea	98	04	1	4141	1.978	1.22
68	68		Costa Rica	48	04	4	3724	9.859	1.09
69	67		Lebanon	48	04	4	3728	9.859	1.09
70	72		South Africa	92	04	18	45349	3.712	1.07
71	70		Turkey	48	04	71	70597	9.859	1.02
72	73		Argentina	48	04	36	36846	9.859	0.99
73	76		Israel	52	04	6	6473	9.447	0.98
74	78		Morocco	60	04	19	29835	8.530	0.75
75	80		Chinese Taipei	56	04	15	22569	8.994	0.74
76	74		Tunisia	60	04	6	9888	8.530	0.71
77	79		Iran	48	04	46	66255	9.859	0.70
78	69		Kyrgyzstan	94	04	1	5059	2.862	0.69
79	82		Chili	48	04	10	15326	9.859	0.66
80	75		Panama	48	04	2	3116	9.859	0.65
81	71		Burundi	96	04	1	6096	2.704	0.61
82	96		Zimbabwe	80	04	4	11719	5.766	0.59
83	77		Kuwait	68	04	1	2439	7.545	0.54
84	83		Ethiopia	56	04	31	66558	8.994	0.52
85	81		Algeria	64	04	12	31800	8.068	0.47
86	84		Mexico	48	04	46	100588	9.859	0.46
87	-		United Arab Emirates	80	04	1	3818	5.766	0.45
88	87		China	80	04	309	1288892	5.766	0.42
89	86		Brazil	48	04	73	178470	9.859	0.41
90	88		Venezuela	48	04	10	25699	9.859	0.39
91	91		Cameroon	64	04	4	15746	8.068	0.31
92	101		Hong Kong	52	04	2	6838	9.447	0.31
93	85		Singapore	64	04	1	4233	8.068	0.29
94	99		Dominican Rep.	64	04	2	8716	8.068	0.28
95	100		Thailand	52	04	17	64022	9.447	0.28
96	89		Uganda	56	04	6	25437	8.994	0.26
97	-		Paraguay	68	04	1	5642	7.545	0.23
98	94		Syria	48	04	4	17586	9.859	0.23
99	90		Zambia	64	04	2	10812	8.068	0.23
100	92		Ghana	52	04	4	20468	9.447	0.21
101	95		Colombia	48	04	8	41662	9.859	0.19
102	106		Egypt	48	04	13	68185	9.859	0.19
103	93		Mozambique	80	04	2	18568	5.766	0.19
104	98		Nigeria	52	04	19	125275	9.447	0.16
105	97		Peru	48	04	4	27148	9.859	0.15
106	102		Malaysia	56	04	3	25225	8.994	0.13
107	105		Senegal	64	04	1	10095	8.068	0.12
108	103		Saudi Arabia	72	04	2	24008	6.999	0.12
109	104		Niger	64	04	1	11380	8.068	0.11
110	107		Sri Lanka	48	04	2	19065	9.859	0.11
111	109		Indonesia	52	04	20	219883	9.447	0.10
112	108		Ecuador	60	04	1	13003	8.530	0.09
113	111		Côte d'Ivoire	64	04	1	16631	8.068	0.07
114	110		Tanzania	64	04	2	35078	8.068	0.07
115	112		Pakistan	48	04	10	149030	9.859	0.07
116	113		Philippines	48	04	4	81161	9.859	0.05
117	114		Iraq	48	04	1	24683	9.859	0.04
118	115		Vietnam	80	04	1	81377	5.766	0.02
119	116		India	48	04	12	1065462	9.859	0.01

In Athina, Eritrea, Paraguay and the United Arab Emirates won their first medals

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. and here was the list before Salt Lake City and here before Athina)

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 Athina 2004-08-30 - Last Modified 2004-08-30