2018 Olympic Medal Tally Per Capita
The long-term success of Norway at the Winter Olympics has been heralded due to their relatively small population size. They have consistently matched the larger nations of the USA, Germany and Russia. Below we use the 2018 medal table as an example to compare the medals per population ranking. The population data is taken from the CIA World Factbook, with the values estimated for 2017.
Ranking countries by total medals per million people
Here are the final standings on the medal table for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, where the medals are calculated per capita (medal count divided by population). Thirty countries won at least one medal. Norway won a record 39 medals, despite having a much smaller population than many of the world sporting superpowers. Consequently Norway was high on this table, however, they were not the best performing country per capita. That title went to Liechtenstein which has a population of just 38,244 people, and managed to win just a single bronze medal.
| rank | country | total medals | population | medals per million people |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liechtenstein | 1 | 38,244 | 26.15 |
| 2 | Norway | 39 | 5,320,045 | 7.33 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 15 | 8,236,303 | 1.82 |
| 4 | Austria | 14 | 8,741,753 | 1.60 |
| 5 | Sweden | 14 | 9,960,487 | 1.41 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 20 | 17,084,719 | 1.17 |
| 7 | Finland | 6 | 5,518,371 | 1.09 |
| 8 | Slovenia | 2 | 1,972,126 | 1.01 |
| 9 | Canada | 29 | 35,623,680 | 0.81 |
| 10 | Czechia | 7 | 10,674,723 | 0.66 |
| 11 | Slovakia | 3 | 5,445,829 | 0.55 |
| 12 | Latvia | 1 | 1,944,643 | 0.51 |
| 13 | New Zealand | 2 | 4,510,327 | 0.44 |
| 14 | Germany | 31 | 80,594,017 | 0.38 |
| 15 | Republic of Korea | 17 | 51,181,299 | 0.33 |
| 16 | Belarus | 3 | 9,549,747 | 0.31 |
| 17 | France | 15 | 67,106,161 | 0.22 |
| 18 | Italy | 10 | 62,137,802 | 0.16 |
| 19 | Australia | 3 | 23,232,413 | 0.13 |
| 20 | Olympic Athlete from Russia | 17 | 142,257,519 | 0.12 |
| 21 | Japan | 13 | 126,451,398 | 0.10 |
| 22 | Hungary | 1 | 9,850,845 | 0.10 |
| 23 | Belgium | 1 | 11,491,346 | 0.09 |
| 24 | Great Britain | 5 | 64,769,452 | 0.08 |
| 25 | United States | 23 | 326,625,791 | 0.07 |
| 26 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 18,556,698 | 0.05 |
| 27 | Poland | 2 | 38,476,269 | 0.05 |
| 28 | Spain | 2 | 48,958,159 | 0.04 |
| 29 | Ukraine | 1 | 44,033,874 | 0.02 |
| 30 | China | 9 | 1,379,302,771 | 0.01 |
Ranking countries by gold medals per million people
Twenty-two countries won at least one gold medal, with Norway and Germany both winning 14 golds. Due to Norway's much smaller population, they clearly led this per-capita table. Norway is also a top 10 nation in the per capita ranking for the Summer Games too.
| rank | country | gold medals | population | gold medals per million people |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 14 | 5,320,045 | 2.63 |
| 2 | Sweden | 7 | 9,960,487 | 0.70 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 5 | 8,236,303 | 0.61 |
| 4 | Austria | 5 | 8,741,753 | 0.57 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 8 | 17,084,719 | 0.47 |
| 6 | Canada | 11 | 35,623,680 | 0.31 |
| 7 | Belarus | 2 | 9,549,747 | 0.21 |
| 8 | Czechia | 2 | 10,674,723 | 0.19 |
| 9 | Slovakia | 1 | 5,445,829 | 0.18 |
| 10 | Finland | 1 | 5,518,371 | 0.18 |
| 11 | Germany | 14 | 80,594,017 | 0.17 |
| 12 | Hungary | 1 | 9,850,845 | 0.10 |
| 13 | Republic of Korea | 5 | 51,181,299 | 0.10 |
| 14 | France | 5 | 67,106,161 | 0.07 |
| 15 | Italy | 3 | 62,137,802 | 0.05 |
| 16 | Japan | 4 | 12,6451,398 | 0.03 |
| 17 | United States | 9 | 326,625,791 | 0.03 |
| 18 | Poland | 1 | 38,476,269 | 0.03 |
| 19 | Ukraine | 1 | 44,033,874 | 0.02 |
| 20 | Great Britain | 1 | 64,769,452 | 0.02 |
| 21 | Olympic Athlete from Russia | 2 | 142,257,519 | 0.01 |
| 22 | China | 1 | 1,379,302,771 | 0.001 |
Related Pages
- The final medal tally for PyeongChang 2018
- The predicted medal tally for 2018.
- Medal Tally from every Winter Olympics.
- Winter Olympics main page.
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