London 2012 olympic medal tally by GDP per capita (GDPPC)

This page lists Olympic medal results standardised by GDP per capita. The thinking is that the bigger your economy per person of population, the better chance your country might have finding and training a genetically predisposed person that can win a medal. This measure is reasonably simple to do and although this statistic is by no means a perfectly accurate reflection of a country's relative olympic performance, the measure is a somewhat better indicator of success than simple sum-medals, and is reasonably straight forward for the lay person to comprehend, particularly in context of the per capita and per GDP rankings.

Further reading

• 2012, Hallal, Global physical activity levels: surveillance progress, pitfalls, and prospects [Figure 1]
• 2011, Vagenas, Olympic medals and demo-economic factors: Novel predictors, the ex-host effect, the exact role of team size, and the "population-GDP" model revisited
• 2010, WHO, Global obesity rankings
• 2008, Newman, The Glory of Just Showing Up
• 2008, Xinhua, Jamaica wins the medal tally, by population
• 2008, West, Modelling Olympic Gold
• 2005, Anon. blogger, Medal Predictions Part II - The Per Capita Olympics
• 2004, MacArthur, Genes and human elite athletic performance
• 2002, Morton, Who won the Sydney 2000 Olympics?: An allometric approach
• 2000, Bernard, Who Wins the Olympic Games: Economic Development and Medal Totals

Any queries or if you spot a problem then contact me simon@neoporcupine.net

Sources: population estimates from Photious/CIA WFB, GDP estimates from IMF, medal results from London2012.com. Note that these results are accurate as at the ending of the Olympic Games event, however as time passes, certain competitors may be stripped of their medals which will definitely affect the country's ranking.

Three tables ranking results using the following methods:

Gold medals per trillion dollars of GDPPC

Total medals per trillion dollars of GDPPC

Weighted medal score per trillion dollars of GDPPC

Last updated 2012-08-14 14:30 (@+10GMT).

85 countries have won medals. 302 gold medals awarded.

Gold medals per GDPPC*

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Gold/1000 GDPPC
1	People's Republic of China	38	27	23	4.5171
2	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	4	0	2	3.0078
3	Ethiopia	3	1	3	2.9664
4	Russian Federation	24	26	32	1.3904
5	Kenya	2	4	5	1.2044
6	Cuba	5	3	6	0.9632
7	United States of America	46	29	29	0.9565
8	Ukraine	6	5	9	0.8168
9	Great Britain	29	17	19	0.8087
10	Uganda	1	0	0	0.7737
11	Kazakhstan	7	1	5	0.5658
12	Jamaica	4	4	4	0.4669
13	Republic of Korea	13	8	7	0.4087
14	Hungary	8	4	5	0.4072
15	France	11	11	12	0.3255
16	Islamic Republic of Iran	4	5	3	0.3186
17	Uzbekistan	1	0	3	0.2981
18	Germany	11	19	14	0.2886
19	Brazil	3	5	9	0.2690
20	Italy	8	9	11	0.2654
21	South Africa	3	2	1	0.2638
22	New Zealand	6	2	5	0.2125
23	Azerbaijan	2	2	6	0.2040
24	Japan	7	14	17	0.2008
25	Georgia	1	3	3	0.1863
26	Australia	7	16	12	0.1685
27	Croatia	3	1	2	0.1673
28	Romania	2	5	2	0.1636
29	Turkey	2	2	1	0.1486
30	Czech Republic	4	3	3	0.1429
31	Netherlands	6	6	8	0.1426
32	Belarus	2	5	5	0.1346
33	Algeria	1	0	0	0.1343
34	Lithuania	2	1	2	0.1145
35	Dominican Republic	1	1	0	0.1080
36	Tunisia	1	1	1	0.1063
37	Spain	3	10	4	0.0998
38	Poland	2	2	6	0.0996
39	Colombia	1	3	4	0.0959
40	Serbia	1	1	2	0.0923
41	Grenada	1	0	0	0.0752
42	Venezuela	1	0	0	0.0750
43	Mexico	1	3	3	0.0692
44	Latvia	1	0	1	0.0628
45	Argentina	1	1	2	0.0589
46	Denmark	2	4	3	0.0537
47	Trinidad and Tobago	1	0	3	0.0462
48	Switzerland	2	2	0	0.0450
49	Norway	2	1	1	0.0354
50	Slovenia	1	1	2	0.0345
51	Bahamas	1	0	0	0.0293
52	Ireland	1	1	3	0.0260
53	Canada	1	5	12	0.0246
54	Sweden	1	4	3	0.0238

Total medals per GDPPC*

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total Medals	Total Medals /1000 GDPPC
1	People's Republic of China	38	27	23	88	10.4607
2	Ethiopia	3	1	3	7	6.9216
3	Kenya	2	4	5	11	6.6242
4	Russian Federation	24	26	32	82	4.7507
5	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	4	0	2	6	4.5118
6	Ukraine	6	5	9	20	2.7226
7	Cuba	5	3	6	14	2.6971
8	United States of America	46	29	29	104	2.1625
9	Great Britain	29	17	19	65	1.8127
10	India	0	2	4	6	1.6220
11	Brazil	3	5	9	17	1.5245
12	Jamaica	4	4	4	12	1.4008
13	Georgia	1	3	3	7	1.3038
14	Mongolia	0	2	3	5	1.1987
15	Uzbekistan	1	0	3	4	1.1925
16	Germany	11	19	14	44	1.1544
17	Japan	7	14	17	38	1.0900
18	Kazakhstan	7	1	5	13	1.0507
19	Afghanistan	0	0	1	1	1.0232
20	Azerbaijan	2	2	6	10	1.0202
21	France	11	11	12	34	1.0061
22	Islamic Republic of Iran	4	5	3	12	0.9558
23	Italy	8	9	11	28	0.9287
24	Republic of Korea	13	8	7	28	0.8803
25	Hungary	8	4	5	17	0.8653
26	Australia	7	16	12	35	0.8426
27	Belarus	2	5	5	12	0.8077
28	Uganda	1	0	0	1	0.7737
29	Colombia	1	3	4	8	0.7668
30	Romania	2	5	2	9	0.7361
31	Republic of Moldova	0	0	2	2	0.6096
32	Spain	3	10	4	17	0.5658
33	South Africa	3	2	1	6	0.5276
34	Poland	2	2	6	10	0.4978
35	Armenia	0	1	2	3	0.4967
36	Mexico	1	3	3	7	0.4844
37	Tajikistan	0	0	1	1	0.4789
38	Netherlands	6	6	8	20	0.4753
39	New Zealand	6	2	5	13	0.4604
40	Canada	1	5	12	18	0.4422
41	Indonesia	0	1	1	2	0.4414
42	Turkey	2	2	1	5	0.3714
43	Serbia	1	1	2	4	0.3690
44	Czech Republic	4	3	3	10	0.3572
45	Croatia	3	1	2	6	0.3346
46	Thailand	0	2	1	3	0.3343
47	Egypt	0	2	0	2	0.3225
48	Tunisia	1	1	1	3	0.3189
49	Lithuania	2	1	2	5	0.2862
50	Denmark	2	4	3	9	0.2415
51	Argentina	1	1	2	4	0.2356
52	Dominican Republic	1	1	0	2	0.2161
53	Morocco	0	0	1	1	0.1987
54	Sweden	1	4	3	8	0.1908
55	Guatemala	0	1	0	1	0.1887
56	Trinidad and Tobago	1	0	3	4	0.1848
57	Slovakia	0	1	3	4	0.1728
58	Bulgaria	0	1	1	2	0.1393
59	Slovenia	1	1	2	4	0.1380
60	Algeria	1	0	0	1	0.1343
61	Malaysia	0	1	1	2	0.1305
62	Ireland	1	1	3	5	0.1300
63	Latvia	1	0	1	2	0.1255
64	Estonia	0	1	1	2	0.0933
65	Montenegro	0	1	0	1	0.0919
66	Switzerland	2	2	0	4	0.0901
67	Puerto Rico	0	1	1	2	0.0831
68	Finland	0	1	2	3	0.0807
69	Belgium	0	1	2	3	0.0758
70	Grenada	1	0	0	1	0.0752
71	Venezuela	1	0	0	1	0.0750
72	Greece	0	0	2	2	0.0732
73	Norway	2	1	1	4	0.0708
74	Botswana	0	1	0	1	0.0706
75	Gabon	0	1	0	1	0.0655
76	Taipei (Chinese Taipei)	0	1	1	2	0.0528
77	Cyprus	0	1	0	1	0.0480
78	Portugal	0	1	0	1	0.0433
79	Bahrain	0	0	1	1	0.0401
80	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1	0.0389
81	Singapore	0	0	2	2	0.0340
82	Bahamas	1	0	0	1	0.0293
83	Qatar	0	0	2	2	0.0214
84	Hong Kong, China	0	0	1	1	0.0204
85	Kuwait	0	0	1	1	0.0172

Weighted medal score per GDPPC*
(Gold=4 Silver=2 Bronze=1)

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Weighted Medals	Weighted Medals /1000 GDPPC
1	People's Republic of China	38	27	23	229	27.2215
2	Ethiopia	3	1	3	17	16.8097
3	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	4	0	2	18	13.5353
4	Kenya	2	4	5	21	12.6462
5	Russian Federation	24	26	32	180	10.4283
6	Cuba	5	3	6	32	6.1647
7	Ukraine	6	5	9	43	5.8535
8	United States of America	46	29	29	271	5.6349
9	Great Britain	29	17	19	169	4.7129
10	Jamaica	4	4	4	28	3.2686
11	Uganda	1	0	0	4	3.0947
12	Kazakhstan	7	1	5	35	2.8289
13	Brazil	3	5	9	31	2.7800
14	Germany	11	19	14	96	2.5186
15	Georgia	1	3	3	13	2.4213
16	Republic of Korea	13	8	7	75	2.3579
17	Islamic Republic of Iran	4	5	3	29	2.3098
18	France	11	11	12	78	2.3081
19	Hungary	8	4	5	45	2.2906
20	India	0	2	4	8	2.1626
21	Japan	7	14	17	73	2.0939
22	Uzbekistan	1	0	3	7	2.0870
23	Italy	8	9	11	61	2.0233
24	Azerbaijan	2	2	6	18	1.8364
25	Australia	7	16	12	72	1.7334
26	Mongolia	0	2	3	7	1.6782
27	Romania	2	5	2	20	1.6357
28	Belarus	2	5	5	23	1.5482
29	South Africa	3	2	1	17	1.4947
30	Colombia	1	3	4	14	1.3419
31	Spain	3	10	4	36	1.1982
32	New Zealand	6	2	5	33	1.1688
33	Netherlands	6	6	8	44	1.0456
34	Afghanistan	0	0	1	1	1.0232
35	Turkey	2	2	1	13	0.9657
36	Mexico	1	3	3	13	0.8995
37	Poland	2	2	6	18	0.8961
38	Czech Republic	4	3	3	25	0.8929
39	Croatia	3	1	2	16	0.8923
40	Tunisia	1	1	1	7	0.7440
41	Serbia	1	1	2	8	0.7381
42	Lithuania	2	1	2	12	0.6868
43	Armenia	0	1	2	4	0.6623
44	Indonesia	0	1	1	3	0.6621
45	Dominican Republic	1	1	0	6	0.6482
46	Egypt	0	2	0	4	0.6450
47	Canada	1	5	12	26	0.6388
48	Republic of Moldova	0	0	2	2	0.6096
49	Thailand	0	2	1	5	0.5572
50	Algeria	1	0	0	4	0.5371
51	Denmark	2	4	3	19	0.5098
52	Tajikistan	0	0	1	1	0.4789
53	Argentina	1	1	2	8	0.4711
54	Guatemala	0	1	0	2	0.3774
55	Sweden	1	4	3	15	0.3577
56	Trinidad and Tobago	1	0	3	7	0.3235
57	Latvia	1	0	1	5	0.3138
58	Grenada	1	0	0	4	0.3009
59	Venezuela	1	0	0	4	0.2999
60	Slovenia	1	1	2	8	0.2759
61	Switzerland	2	2	0	12	0.2703
62	Ireland	1	1	3	9	0.2340
63	Slovakia	0	1	3	5	0.2160
64	Bulgaria	0	1	1	3	0.2090
65	Morocco	0	0	1	1	0.1987
66	Malaysia	0	1	1	3	0.1957
67	Norway	2	1	1	11	0.1947
68	Montenegro	0	1	0	2	0.1837
69	Botswana	0	1	0	2	0.1412
70	Estonia	0	1	1	3	0.1400
71	Gabon	0	1	0	2	0.1309
72	Puerto Rico	0	1	1	3	0.1247
73	Bahamas	1	0	0	4	0.1173
74	Finland	0	1	2	4	0.1076
75	Belgium	0	1	2	4	0.1010
76	Cyprus	0	1	0	2	0.0959
77	Portugal	0	1	0	2	0.0866
78	Taipei (Chinese Taipei)	0	1	1	3	0.0792
79	Greece	0	0	2	2	0.0732
80	Bahrain	0	0	1	1	0.0401
81	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1	0.0389
82	Singapore	0	0	2	2	0.0340
83	Qatar	0	0	2	2	0.0214
84	Hong Kong, China	0	0	1	1	0.0204
85	Kuwait	0	0	1	1	0.0172

Checks for updates every 15 minutes, adjusts and updates the website as necessary. Note: there was a bug with two digit scores that was only detected and corrected on 19:15 1 Aug 2012 +10UT when China had 13 gold medals.