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 10 olympic medals is a major achievement for a country of 39,000 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Column 'years' lists the years during which the country competed in the Olympics - countries no longer active are not numbered in the ranking.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 (early 2022, x000) Column 'N-Oly' is the number of Olympic games that the country has competed in. adjusted for medal count per olympiad. The 2021-2022 Olympics (Tokyo and Beijing combined) count for 1 = 1407 medals, but the 1948 Games count only 0.363 (511 medals). The last column should be read : medals per billion inhabitants per standard Olympiad.

rk22	rk20	rk18	country		years		med	inh	N-Oly	rel
1	1	1		Liechtenstein	48	22	10	39	12.016	21256
				East Germany	68	88	515	17463	3.190	9244
2	2			San Marino	60	22	3	34	10.908	8165
3	3	2		Norway	48	22	437	5415	12.016	6716
4	4	3		Finland	48	22	286	5519	12.016	4312
5	5	4		Hungary	48	22	436	9689	12.016	3745
6	9	6		Slovenia	92	22	52	2109	6.900	3574
7	6	10		Grenada	84	22	3	113	8.095	3280
8	7	7		Bahamas	52	22	15	393	11.653	3272
9	8	5		Sweden	48	22	410	10452	12.016	3264
10	10	8		Bulgaria	48	22	230	6520	12.016	2936
11	13	9		Switzerland	48	22	282	8717	12.016	2692
12	14	11		Austria	48	22	285	8980	12.016	2641
13	11	12		Jamaica	48	22	86	2734	12.016	2618
14	12	26		Bermuda	48	22	2	64	12.016	2598
15	15	13		Estonia	92	22	23	1330	6.900	2506
16	16	14		New Zealand	48	22	139	5132	12.016	2254
17	17	16		Latvia	92	22	27	1875	6.900	2087
18	18	15		Belarus	94	22	115	9350	6.199	1984
19	19	17		Denmark	48	22	138	5873	12.016	1955
20	20	19		Croatia	92	22	52	3889	6.900	1938
21	21	18		Netherlands	48	22	392	17693	12.016	1844
22	22	22		Georgia	94	22	40	3729	6.199	1731
23	23	20		Australia	48	22	534	25954	12.016	1712
24	24	21		Cuba	48	22	223	11182	12.016	1660
25	25	23		Czech Rep.	94	22	98	10524	6.199	1502
				Czechoslovakia	48	92	134	16154	5.817	1426
26	26	25		Lithuania	92	22	26	2795	6.900	1348
27	28	27		Romania	48	22	309	19186	12.016	1340
28	27	24		Tonga	88	22	1	100	7.523	1335
29	29	29		Slovakia	94	22	42	5452	6.199	1243
30	31	30		Germany	92	22	666	83222	6.900	1160
31	30	28		Trinidad & Tobago	48	22	19	1368	12.016	1156
32	35	31		Virgin Islands (US)	68	22	1	87	10.090	1137
				West Germany	68	88	238	65692	3.190	1136
33	32	33		Armenia	94	22	20	2964	6.199	1089
				Germany (E+W)	48	64	167	83155	1.926	1043
34	36	34		Canada	48	22	453	38592	12.016	977
35	33	39		Serbia	8	22	24	6872	3.662	954
36	37	32		Iceland	48	22	4	370	12.016	900
37	38	35		Italy	48	22	628	59046	12.016	885
38	34	44		Kosovo	16	22	3	1782	1.910	881
				Soviet-Union	52	88	1193	298633	4.753	840
39	39	37		Mongolia	64	22	30	3424	10.522	833
40	40	36		Azerbaijan	94	22	51	10156	6.199	810
41	41	40		Russia	94	22	698	145478	6.199	774
42	44	41		France	48	22	593	67813	12.016	728
43	43	42		Great-Britain	48	22	581	67081	12.016	721
44	42	38		Kazakhstan	94	22	85	19167	6.199	715
				Yugoslavia (pre-1988)	48	88	75	20810	5.117	704
				Unified Team CIS	92	92	134	292631	701	653
45	45	43		Poland	48	22	296	38116	12.016	646
46	46	45		Ukraine	94	22	155	41167	6.199	607
47	47	47		Korea, Republic	48	22	363	51672	12.016	585
				Netherl. Antilles (1956-2010)	52	10	1	195	8.855	579
48	48	53		Moldova	94	22	9	2597	6.199	559
49	49	48		Belgium	48	22	78	11618	12.016	559
50	50	50		Ireland	48	22	32	5012	12.016	531
51	51	49		U.S.A.	48	22	2104	333276	12.016	525
52	52	51		Greece	48	22	66	10679	12.016	514
53	53	46		Montenegro	8	22	1	621	3.662	439
				Serbia & Montenegro	92	6	12	9275	3.237	400
54	55	52		Luxembourg	48	22	3	635	12.016	393
55	56	56		Bahrain	80	22	5	1502	8.625	386
56	54	58		Qatar	88	22	8	2799	7.523	380
57	58	57		Japan	48	22	530	125340	12.016	352
58	57	55		Barbados	68	22	1	288	10.090	344
59	59	54		Suriname	68	22	2	598	10.090	331
				South Africa (- 56)	48	56	21	59622	1.109	318
60	60	71		Fiji	56	22	3	898	11.279	296
61	62	60		Spain	48	22	162	47394	12.016	284
62	61	59		Namibia	92	22	5	2550	6.900	284
63	63	62		Puerto Rico	48	22	10	3286	12.016	253
64	64	61		Korea, People's Dem Rep	72	22	56	25660	9.640	226
65	66	64		Kenya	56	22	108	47564	11.279	201
66	65	65		Portugal	48	22	25	10348	12.016	201
67	67	63		Uzbekistan	94	22	40	35390	6.199	182
68	69	78		North Macedonia	96	22	2	1833	6.069	180
69	68	66		Uruguay	48	22	7	3555	12.016	164
70	70	79		Kyrgyzstan	94	22	6	6663	6.199	145
71	72	76		Taiwan	56	22	36	23375	11.279	137
72	71	67		Djibouti	88	22	1	976	7.523	136
73	73	68		Cyprus	80	22	1	888	8.625	131
74	74	77		Israel	52	22	13	9478	11.653	118
75	75	70		Tunisia	60	22	15	11747	10.908	117
76	76	69		Guyana	48	22	1	744	12.016	112
77	78	85		Dominican Rep.	64	22	12	10536	10.522	108
78	77	72		Kuwait	68	22	5	4671	10.090	106
79	80	102		Hong Kong	52	22	9	7395	11.653	104
80	79	74		Turkey	48	22	105	84680	12.016	103
81	82	75		Argentina	48	22	53	45809	12.016	96
82	81	90		Botswana	80	22	2	2410	8.625	96
83	83	73		South Africa	92	22	38	60143	6.900	92
84	84	80		Singapore	64	22	5	5454	10.522	87
85	85	81		Mauritius	72	22	1	1266	9.640	82
86	86	83		Iran	48	22	75	85219	12.016	73
87	87	82		Tajikistan	94	22	4	9504	6.199	68
88	88	84		Costa Rica	48	22	4	5163	12.016	64
89	89	87		Morocco	60	22	24	36524	10.908	60
90	90	86		Zimbabwe	80	22	8	15791	8.625	59
91	91	88		Panama	48	22	3	4279	12.016	58
92	92	91		China	80	22	709	1412600	8.625	58
93	93	95		Brazil	48	22	145	214391	12.016	56
94	94	99		Venezuela	48	22	19	28705	12.016	55
95	95	98		Eritrea	98	22	1	3601	5.471	51
96	96	96		Colombia	48	22	31	51049	12.016	51
97	97	89		Lebanon	48	22	4	6769	12.016	49
98	99	93		Chili	48	22	11	19678	12.016	47
99	98	92		Gabon	72	22	1	2233	9.640	46
100	100	97		Mexico	48	22	65	126014	12.016	43
101	101	94		Ethiopia	56	22	57	117876	11.279	43
102	102	101		Thailand	52	22	32	66757	11.653	41
103	103	100		Algeria	64	22	17	45400	10.522	36
104	104	104		Malaysia	56	22	13	32699	11.279	35
105	105			Turkmenistan	94	22	1	6118	6.199	26
106	106	103		Burundi	96	22	2	12575	6.069	26
107	108	115		Ecuador	60	22	5	17925	10.908	26
108	107	120		Jordan	64	22	3	11150	10.522	26
109	109	105		United Arab Emirates	80	22	2	9504	8.625	24
110	110	107		Syria	48	22	5	18276	12.016	23
111	111	108		Uganda	56	22	11	42886	11.279	23
112	112	109		Egypt	48	22	25	102966	12.016	20
113	113	106		Cameroon	64	22	5	24348	10.522	20
114	114	112		Côte d'Ivoire	64	22	4	27088	10.522	14
115	115	113		Ghana	52	22	5	30793	11.653	14
116	116	110		Paraguay	68	22	1	7353	10.090	13
117	117	111		Togo	68	22	1	7886	10.090	13
118	118	119		Saudi Arabia	72	22	4	35013	9.640	12
119	119	118		Indonesia	52	22	35	271350	11.653	11
120	120	116		Nigeria	52	22	26	211401	11.653	11
121	121	114		Zambia	64	22	2	18401	10.522	10
122	122	117		Peru	48	22	4	33035	12.016	10
123	123	121		Niger	64	22	2	24113	10.522	8
124	125	122		Mozambique	80	22	2	30832	8.625	8
125	124	123		Sri Lanka	48	22	2	22156	12.016	8
126	126	129		Philippines	48	22	9	111532	12.016	7
127	127	124		Senegal	64	22	1	17223	10.522	6
128	128	125		Afghanistan	48	22	2	32890	12.016	5
129	129	126		Guatemala	52	22	1	17110	11.653	5
130	130			Burkina Faso	72	22	1	21510	9.640	5
131	131	127		Vietnam	80	22	4	98510	8.625	5
132	132	128		Pakistan	48	22	10	225200	12.016	4
133	133	130		Tanzania	64	22	2	59442	10.522	3
134	134	131		Sudan	60	22	1	44217	10.908	2
135	135	132		Iraq	48	22	1	41191	12.016	2
136	136	133		India	48	22	30	1388396	12.016	2

Other countries that are still waiting for their first medals.

Adapted after Beijing 2022-02-23

This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.