Which nations win the most Olympics medals "PER CAPITA"? PART II

Last time, we discussed how “medals per capita” could be a FAIR and better indication of nations' focus on athletic activities because it adjusts for different population numbers. I divided the number of medals each country received in 2004, by that country’s population in millions, and ranked the results as "Medals per million people living in that country." AND Guess who’s on Top of this population-adjusted (normalized) list? Guess what’s Iran’s rank of medals per capita?..

Well, the new ranking is as follows (Numbers are medals per million people):

Bahamas 6.7: Bahamas is a country of 300,000 people, and winner of 2 medals in 2004 Olympics. Like Jamaica and some of the other islands, they're good runners and often winners of medals in track and field

Cuba 2.5: With 27 medals for 11 million people. Cuba's usually among top athlete-producing countries in the world.

Australia 2.3: Open waters around them, open land space inside, rugged train, welcoming immigration policies, and Aussies' love of nature helps this nation to produce strong athletes.

Estonia 2.3, Latvia 2, Slovenia 2, Bulgaria 1.7, Hungary 1.7: The former Communist block and Eastern European countries, similar to Cuba, still treat athletic development as a national priority and pride, and spend relatively high budgets in training world-class athletes.

Jamaica 1.7, Belarus 1.5, Denmark 1.45, Greece 1.45, Norway, The Netherlands and New Zealand: 1.3, ... Germany 0.6, Canada 0.4, U.S. 0.3: Many Western countries have high GNPs (Gross National Product) that allows them to have high athletic development budgets.

In the Middle East and Islamic world, apart from Azerbaijan (0.6) which belonged to the former Soviet block, we have the following records of medals per capita:

United Arab Emirates 0.2, Turkey 0.14, Morocco 0.1, Iran 0.09, Egypt 0.07, Syria 0.05, Indonesia 0.02.

The list goes on. Iran was 64th on the overall list IN 2004, with 6 medals, the same number as Norway but a population 15 times greater than Norway. In 2008, It looks like Iran will be in much worse shape! 

Sadly, countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malaysia with huge populations, won NO medals in 2004, and India won 1 medal for its 1.1 billion people! This is perhaps a reflection of low GNP's and sports budgets, and some genetic factors in these countries. Brazil at 0.05 (10 medals for 187 million people) is perhaps also suffering from a poor economy and athletic-development resources.

And Guess where China is? At 0.05 medals per million people, China is now 70th in MY ranking of medals, right below Syria and above Mexico. Some may say it's unfair to divide their medals by population; For which I say; "It's Unfair to compare athletic talent in a pool of 1.3 billion people with that in a pool of 11 million people (like Cuba).

For a complete ranking of 2004 and 2008 "medals per capita" please send your request and email address to us.