13 August 2012

2012 Olympics Final Per Capita Medal Count

Most place post the total Olympic medal count. I think it's more interesting to see that total adjusted by population. India got 6 medals whereas Grenada got only one, so India obviously did better. Did better, that is, until you take into account the fact that India's population is about 12,000 times larger.

The Caribbean, home to 4 of the 5 top countries on the list, is the place where you're most likely to encounter an Olympic athlete. India, which has only one medal for every 200 million citizens, is the place you're least likely to have such a chance encounter. (Well, outside of the 100+ countries where no citizen took home a medal.)

While the US beat Spain in the men's basketball final, Spain beat the US in per capita medal count. Actually, 49 countries can make such a claim, as the US finished 50th in this ranking.

In the US, an Olympic medal winner is one in 3 million. By contrast, in host Great Britain, they're one in a million. (Note: this isn't, strictly speaking, true. A relay team of 4 or soccer team of, say, a dozen would obviously boast more Olympic medal winners than the country would get credit for having won. The country wins one gold medal but 4 or 20 (or whatever) gold medal winners walk away from the ceremony.) If one has a separate category for countries with populations of more than ten million, Hungary, Australia, Cuba, and the Netherlands did better than Britain.

It might surprise you to know that South Africa, China, and Brazil did worse than average. You might also be surprised that countries like Slovenia, Mongolia, and Hungary did so much better than average. At least I was.

Rank Country Medals Population Pop. / Medal Compared to Avg.
1 Grenada 1 105,000                    105,000                  75.58
2 Jamaica 12 2,705,827                    225,486                  35.19
3 Trinidad and Tobago 4 1,317,714                    329,429                  24.09
4 New Zealand 13 4,434,400                    341,108                  23.26
5 Bahamas 1 353,658                    353,658                  22.44
6 Slovenia 4 2,057,910                    514,478                  15.42
7 Mongolia 5 2,844,000                    568,800                  13.95
8 Hungary 17 9,962,000                    586,000                  13.54
9 Montenegro 1 620,029                    620,029                  12.80
10 Denmark 9 5,584,758                    620,529                  12.79
11 Lithuania 5 3,187,700                    637,540                  12.45
12 Georgia 7 4,497,600                    642,514                  12.35
13 Estonia 2 1,294,236                    647,118                  12.26
14 Australia 35 22,692,531                    648,358                  12.24
15 Croatia 6 4,290,612                    715,102                  11.10
16 Belarus 13 9,457,500                    727,500                  10.91
17 Cuba 14 11,247,925                    803,423                     9.88
18 Netherlands 20 16,738,836                    836,942                     9.48
19 Cyprus 1 838,897                    838,897                     9.46
20 Qatar 2 1,699,435                    849,718                     9.34
21 Ireland 5 4,588,252                    917,650                     8.65
22 Azerbaijan 10 9,235,100                    923,510                     8.59
23 Great Britain 65 62,262,000                    957,877                     8.28
24 Latvia 2 2,070,371                 1,035,186                     7.67
25 Czech Republic 10 10,504,203                 1,050,420                     7.55
26 Armenia 3 3,268,500                 1,089,500                     7.28
27 Sweden 8 9,495,113                 1,186,889                     6.69
28 Bahrain 1 1,234,571                 1,234,571                     6.43
29 Norway 4 5,027,800                 1,256,950                     6.31
30 Kazakhstan 13 16,776,000                 1,290,462                     6.15
31 Slovakia 4 5,445,324                 1,361,331                     5.83
32 Gabon 1 1,564,000                 1,564,000                     5.07
33 Korea 28 48,580,000                 1,735,000                     4.57
34 Russia 82 143,117,000                 1,745,329                     4.55
35 Moldova 2 3,559,500                 1,779,750                     4.46
36 Serbia 4 7,120,666                 1,780,167                     4.46
37 Finland 3 5,413,830                 1,804,610                     4.40
38 Germany 44 81,859,000                 1,860,432                     4.27
39 Puerto Rico 2 3,725,789                 1,862,895                     4.26
40 France 34 65,350,000                 1,922,059                     4.13
41 Canada 18 34,880,400                 1,937,800                     4.10
42 Switzerland 4 7,952,600                 1,988,150                     3.99
43 Botswana 1 2,038,228                 2,038,228                     3.89
44 Romania 9 19,042,936                 2,115,882                     3.75
45 Italy 28 60,820,787                 2,172,171                     3.65
46 Ukraine 20 45,565,909                 2,278,295                     3.48
47 Singapore 2 5,183,700                 2,591,850                     3.06
48 Tunisia 4 10,673,800                 2,668,450                     2.97
49 Spain 17 46,163,116                 2,715,477                     2.92
50 US 104 314,059,000                 3,019,798                     2.63
51 Japan 38 127,530,000                 3,356,053                     2.36
52 Kuwait 1 3,582,054                 3,582,054                     2.22
53 Belgium 3 10,951,266                 3,650,422                     2.17
54 Bulgaria 2 7,364,570                 3,682,285                     2.16
55 Poland 10 38,501,000                 3,850,100                     2.06
56 Kenya 11 42,749,000                 3,886,273                     2.04
57 DPR Korea 6 24,554,000                 4,092,333                     1.94
58 Dominican Republic 2 9,445,281                 4,722,641                     1.68
59 Greece 2 10,787,690                 5,393,845                     1.47
60 Colombia 8 46,638,000                 5,829,750                     1.36
61 Iran 12 75,149,669                 6,262,472                     1.27
62 Hong Kong, China 1 7,103,700                 7,103,700                     1.12
63 Uzbekistan 4 29,123,400                 7,280,850                     1.09
64 Tajikistan 1 7,800,000                 7,800,000                     1.02
- total 886     7,031,000,000           7,935,666               1.00
65 South Africa 6 50,586,757                 8,431,126                     0.94
66 Argentina 4 40,117,096              10,029,274                     0.79
67 Portugal 1 10,561,614              10,561,614                     0.75
68 Brazil 17 192,376,496              11,316,264                     0.70
69 Chinese Taipei 2 23,261,747              11,630,874                     0.68
70 Ethiopia 7 84,320,987              12,045,855                     0.66
71 Malaysia 2 28,334,135              14,167,068                     0.56
72 Guatemala 1 14,713,763              14,713,763                     0.54
73 Turkey 5 74,724,269              14,944,854                     0.53
74 China 87 1,347,350,000              15,486,782                     0.51
75 Mexico 7 112,336,538              16,048,077                     0.49
76 Thailand 3 65,479,453              21,826,484                     0.36
77 Afghanistan 1 25,500,100              25,500,100                     0.31
78 Saudi Arabia 1 27,136,977              27,136,977                     0.29
79 Venezuela 1 27,150,095              27,150,095                     0.29
80 Morocco 1 32,638,900              32,638,900                     0.24
81 Uganda 1 32,939,800              32,939,800                     0.24
82 Algeria 1 37,100,000              37,100,000                     0.21
83 Egypt 2 82,473,000              41,236,500                     0.19
84 Indonesia 2 237,641,326            118,820,663                     0.07
85 India 6 1,210,193,422            201,698,904                     0.04

No comments: