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Column 'years' lists the years during which the country competed in the Olympics - countries no longer active are not numbered in the ranking.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 2004-2006 Olympics (Torino and Athina combined) count for 1 = 1181 medals, but the 1948 Games count only 0.406 (479 medals). The last column should be read : medals per 10 million inhabitants per standard Olympiad.

rk06	rk04	country		years		med	inh	N-Oly	rel
1	1		Liechtenstein	48	06	9	34.5	9.898	263.57
			East Germany	68	88	515	17668	3.765	77.43
2	2		Norway	48	06	286	4591	9.898	62.94
3	3		Finland	48	06	252	5226	9.898	48.72
4	4		Hungary	48	06	370	10103	9.898	37.00
5	5		Sweden	48	06	319	8991	9.898	35.85
6	6		Bulgaria	48	06	214	7715	9.898	28.03
7	8		Switzerland	48	06	203	7392	9.898	27.75
8	11		Estonia	92	06	14	1342	3.859	27.03
9	7		Bahamas	52	06	8	317	9.492	26.59
10	9		Austria	48	06	209	8105	9.898	26.05
11	10		Tonga	88	06	1	98.4	4.598	22.10
12	13		New Zealand	48	06	74	4060	9.898	18.42
13	14		Australia	48	06	365	20141	9.898	18.31
14	12		Slovenia	92	06	14	1997	3.859	18.16
15	16		Denmark	48	06	96	5401	9.898	17.96
16	15		Belarus	94	06	53	9828	3.025	17.83
17	17		Jamaica	48	06	43	2649	9.898	16.40
18	18		Bermuda	48	06	1	64.0	9.898	15.79
19	20		Netherlands	48	06	232	16275	9.898	14.40
20	19		Cuba	48	06	159	11300	9.898	14.22
21	22		Latvia	92	06	12	2312	3.859	13.45
22	21		Romania	48	06	283	21549	9.898	13.27
			Czecho-Slovakia	48	92	134	15595	6.873	12.50
23	24		Germany	92	06	395	82561	3.859	12.40
24	25		Czech Rep.	94	06	38	10212	3.025	12.30
25	23		Virgin Islands (US)	68	06	1	109	7.624	12.03
26	27		Croatia	92	06	19	4497	3.859	10.95
27	26		Iceland	48	06	3	292	9.898	10.38
			West Germany	68	88	238	64893	3.765	9.74
28	28		Trinidad & Tobago	48	06	12	1286	9.898	9.43
29	29		Slovakia	94	06	15	5383	3.025	9.21
			Germany (E+W)	48	64	167	82561	2.273	8.90
30	31		Georgia	94	06	12	4694	3.025	8.45
31	33		Canada	48	06	265	31876	9.898	8.40
32	30		Lithuania	92	06	11	3439	3.859	8.29
33	32		Italy	48	06	464	57537	9.898	8.15
			Soviet-Union	52	88	1193	286492	5.633	7.39
34	36		Russia	94	06	320	144315	3.025	7.33
35	34		Mongolia	64	06	15	2519	8.138	7.32
36	35		Kazakhstan	94	06	31	15144	3.025	6.77
37	38		Luxembourg	48	06	3	454	9.898	6.68
38	39		France	48	06	389	60044	9.898	6.55
39	41		Poland	48	06	236	38176	9.898	6.25
40	42		Suriname	68	06	2	437	7.624	6.00
41	40		Netherl. Antilles	52	06	1	179	9.492	5.89
42	37		Qatar	88	06	2	754	4.598	5.77
			Unified Team CIS	92	92	134	279399	0.835	5.74
43	44		Belgium	48	06	57	10416	9.898	5.53
44	45		Great-Britain	48	06	325	59561	9.898	5.51
			Yugoslavia (1945-1991)	48	88	75	23225	6.038	5.35
45	46		U.S.A.	48	06	1543	293850	9.898	5.31
46	43		Namibia	92	06	4	1954	3.859	5.30
47	47		Ukraine	94	06	74	47470	3.025	5.15
48	49		Barbados	68	06	1	273	7.624	4.80
49	48		Djibouti	88	06	1	467	4.598	4.66
50	50		Greece	48	06	50	11015	9.898	4.59
51	51		Ireland	48	06	18	4024	9.898	4.52
52	52		Korea. Republic	48	06	215	48199	9.898	4.51
53	53		Azerbaijan	94	06	9	8343	3.025	3.57
			South Africa (- 56)	48	56	21	46587	1.306	3.45
54	54		Armenia	94	06	3	2991	3.025	3.32
55	55		Moldova	94	06	4	4216	3.025	3.14
56	56		Serbia & Montenegro (=Yugoslavia 1992-2003)	92	06	12	10826	3.859	2.87
57	57		Japan	48	06	324	127757	9.898	2.56
58	58		Korea. People's Dem Rep	72	06	37	22698	7.088	2.30
59	61		Uruguay	48	06	7	3399	9.898	2.08
60	59		Spain	48	06	90	43768	9.898	2.08
61	60		Kenya	56	06	60	32022	9.047	2.07
62	62		Macedonia (FYROM)	96	06	1	2035	2.870	1.71
63	63		Portugal	48	06	17	10524	9.898	1.63
64	65		Puerto Rico	48	06	6	3898	9.898	1.56
65	64		Uzbekistan	94	06	12	26009	3.025	1.53
66	66		Guyana	48	06	1	752	9.898	1.34
67	67		Eritrea	98	06	1	4297	2.157	1.08
68	69		Lebanon	48	06	4	3777	9.898	1.07
69	71		Turkey	48	06	71	71617	9.898	1.00
70	70		South Africa	92	06	18	46587	3.859	1.00
71	73		Israel	52	06	6	6562	9.492	0.96
72	68		Costa Rica	48	06	4	4252	9.898	0.95
73	72		Argentina	48	06	36	39145	9.898	0.93
74	75		Chinese Taipei	56	06	15	22640	9.047	0.73
75	74		Morocco	60	06	19	30302	8.592	0.73
76	76		Tunisia	60	06	6	9975	8.592	0.70
77	77		Iran	48	06	46	67503	9.898	0.69
78	78		Kyrgyzstan	94	06	1	5081	3.025	0.65
79	79		Chili	48	06	10	15824	9.898	0.64
80	80		Panama	48	06	2	3172	9.898	0.64
81	82		Zimbabwe	80	06	4	11821	5.877	0.58
82	81		Burundi	96	06	1	6231	2.870	0.56
83	83		Kuwait	68	06	1	2586	7.624	0.51
84	84		Ethiopia	56	06	31	67851	9.047	0.50
85	85		Algeria	64	06	12	32322	8.138	0.46
86	86		Mexico	48	06	46	105447	9.898	0.44
87	88		China	80	06	320	1298848	5.877	0.42
88	89		Brazil	48	06	73	180542	9.898	0.41
89	87		United Arab Emirates	80	06	1	4298	5.877	0.40
90	90		Venezuela	48	06	10	26170	9.898	0.39
91	92		Hong Kong	52	06	2	6848	9.492	0.31
92	91		Cameroon	64	06	4	16064	8.138	0.31
93	93		Singapore	64	06	1	4229	8.138	0.29
94	94		Dominican Rep.	64	06	2	8834	8.138	0.28
95	95		Thailand	52	06	17	64485	9.492	0.28
96	96		Uganda	56	06	6	26335	9.047	0.25
97	99		Zambia	64	06	2	10462	8.138	0.23
98	97		Paraguay	68	06	1	5773	7.624	0.23
99	98		Syria	48	06	4	18017	9.898	0.22
100	100		Ghana	52	06	4	20732	9.492	0.20
101	101		Colombia	48	06	8	42311	9.898	0.19
102	102		Egypt	48	06	13	69261	9.898	0.19
103	103		Mozambique	80	06	2	18812	5.877	0.18
104	104		Nigeria	52	06	19	128254	9.492	0.16
105	105		Peru	48	06	4	27544	9.898	0.15
106	106		Malaysia	56	06	3	25584	9.047	0.13
107	107		Senegal	64	06	1	10339	8.138	0.12
108	108		Saudi Arabia	72	06	2	24580	7.088	0.11
109	109		Niger	64	06	1	11679	8.138	0.11
110	110		Sri Lanka	48	06	2	19218	9.898	0.11
111	111		Indonesia	52	06	20	222611	9.492	0.09
112	112		Ecuador	60	06	1	13213	8.592	0.09
113	113		Côte d'Ivoire	64	06	1	16897	8.138	0.07
114	114		Tanzania	64	06	2	35782	8.138	0.07
115	115		Pakistan	48	06	10	151600	9.898	0.07
116	116		Philippines	48	06	4	82670	9.898	0.05
117	117		Iraq	48	06	1	25375	9.898	0.04
118	118		Vietnam	80	06	1	81839	5.877	0.02
119	119		India	48	06	12	1081229	9.898	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, and here before Torino)

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 Torino 2006-03-06 - Last Modified 2006-03-06