And the Olympics winner is … Jamaica!

On a per capita basis, the best performing nation in the 2008 Olympics was – by far – Jamaica. Despite a population of only 2.7 million people, Jamaicans won six gold medals. No other nation had close to one gold per million, except for Bahrain a small nation which won a single gold. #2 was Jamaica’s Caribbean neighbor, Bahamas. Among the medals leaders, Australia (46 total medals) did best at #7 per capita.

Although China won more gold than any other country, it earned only .04 gold medals per million people. Jamaicans traveling from the far side of the planet bested the home country by a ratio of 60:1! Overall, it came in at only #64. The US, despite the greatest combination of wealth and infrastructure was hardly outstanding either, ranking only #43 overall. Although the US won more medals (110) than any other country, its .36 medals per million people is not even in the same league as the per-capita leaders.

The prize for the best performing region goes to the Caribbean. In addition to Jamaica and Bahamas, the largest Caribbean country, Cuba, also did very well – #11 per capita (Cuba’s 41 medals represent 2.1 medals per million people, 6 times the US medals rate) and Trinidad and Tobago #15. The two other very strong regions were Australia (#7)/New Zealand (#10), and northernmost Europe (Iceland #3, Norway #5, Estonia #9 Latvia #14 Denmark # 16 and Lithuania #19, as well as the Netherlands #17, Great Britain #21 and Finland #27).

Final 2008 Per Capita National Olympic Performance

Rank	Country	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medals	4-2-1 points	pop (mil)	421 points /mil	Gold medals /mil	Tot medals /mil
1	Jamaica	6	3	2	32	3	11.79	2.211	4.05
2	Bahamas	0	1	1	3	0	9.06	.000	6.04
3	Iceland	0	1	0	2	0	6.32	.000	3.16
4	Bahrain	1	0	0	4	1	5.26	1.315	1.32
5	Norway	3	5	2	24	5	5.02	.628	2.09
6	Slovenia	1	2	2	10	2	4.93	.493	2.46
7	Australia	14	15	17	103	21	4.81	.654	2.15
8	Mongolia	2	2	0	12	3	4.56	.761	1.52
9	Estonia	1	1	0	6	1	4.48	.746	1.49
10	New Zealand	3	1	5	19	4	4.45	.702	2.11
11	Cuba	2	11	11	41	11	3.64	.177	2.13
12	Georgia	3	0	3	15	4	3.41	.682	1.36
13	Slovakia	3	2	1	17	5	3.15	.555	1.11
14	Latvia	1	1	1	7	2	3.09	.441	1.32
15	Trinidad and Tobago	0	2	0	4	1	3.00	.000	1.50
16	Denmark	2	2	3	15	5	2.73	.364	1.28
17	Netherlands	7	5	4	42	16	2.55	.426	.97
18	Hungary	3	5	2	24	10	2.39	.299	1.00
19	Lithuania	0	2	3	7	3	2.08	.000	1.49
20	Armenia	0	0	6	6	3	2.00	.000	2.00
21	Great Britain	19	13	15	117	61	1.93	.314	.78
22	Belarus	1	3	7	17	10	1.75	.103	1.14
23	Czech Republic	3	3	0	18	10	1.73	.288	.58
24	South Korea	13	10	8	80	48	1.66	.270	.64
25	Switzerland	2	0	4	12	8	1.57	.262	.79
26	Croatia	0	2	3	7	5	1.54	.000	1.10
27	Finland	1	1	2	8	5	1.50	.188	.75
28	Kazakhstan	2	4	7	23	15	1.49	.130	.84
29	Azerbaijan	1	2	4	12	8	1.42	.118	.83
30	Germany	16	10	15	99	82	1.20	.195	.50
31	Panama	1	0	0	4	3	1.20	.299	.30
32	France	7	16	17	77	64	1.19	.109	.62
33	Bulgaria	1	1	3	9	8	1.18	.131	.65
34	Ukraine	7	5	15	53	46	1.15	.152	.59
35	Russia	23	21	28	162	142	1.14	.162	.51
36	Canada	3	9	6	36	33	1.08	.090	.54
37	Italy	8	10	10	62	60	1.04	.134	.47
38	Romania	4	1	3	21	21	.98	.187	.37
39	Sweden	0	4	1	9	9	.98	.000	.54
40	Spain	5	10	3	43	46	.93	.109	.39
41	Kenya	5	5	4	34	38	.91	.133	.37
42	Ireland	0	1	2	4	4	.90	.000	.68
43	United States	36	38	36	256	305	.84	.118	.36
44	Mauritius	0	0	1	1	1	.79	.000	.79
45	Zimbabwe	1	3	0	10	13	.75	.075	.30
46	Poland	3	6	1	25	38	.66	.079	.26
47	Belgium	1	1	0	6	10	.60	.100	.20
48	Portugal	1	1	0	6	11	.56	.094	.19
49	Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	3	5	.56	.000	.38
50	North Korea	2	1	3	13	24	.55	.084	.25
51	Greece	0	2	2	6	11	.54	.000	.36
52	Austria	0	1	2	4	8	.48	.000	.36
53	Japan	9	6	10	58	128	.45	.070	.20
54	Tajikistan	0	1	1	3	7	.45	.000	.30
55	Singapore	0	1	0	2	5	.44	.000	.22
56	Serbia	0	1	2	4	10	.41	.000	.30
57	Uzbekistan	1	2	3	11	27	.40	.037	.22
58	Tunisia	1	0	0	4	10	.39	.097	.10
59	Argentina	2	0	4	12	40	.30	.050	.15
60	Moldova	0	0	1	1	4	.26	.000	.26
61	Ethiopia	4	1	2	20	79	.25	.050	.09
62	Cameroon	1	0	0	4	19	.22	.054	.05
63	Turkey	1	4	3	15	71	.21	.014	.11
64	China	51	21	28	274	1,326	.21	.038	.08
65	Thailand	2	2	0	12	64	.19	.031	.06
66	Chinese Taipei	0	0	4	4	23	.17	.000	.17
67	Togo	0	0	1	1	7	.15	.000	.15
68	Ecuador	0	1	0	2	13	.15	.000	.07
69	Brazil	3	4	8	28	187	.15	.016	.08
70	Israel	0	0	1	1	7	.14	.000	.14
71	Chile	0	1	0	2	17	.12	.000	.06
72	Morocco	0	1	1	3	31	.10	.000	.06
73	Algeria	0	1	1	3	34	.09	.000	.06
74	Mexico	2	0	1	9	107	.08	.019	.03
75	Malaysaia	0	1	0	2	27	.07	.000	.04
76	Iran	1	0	1	5	70	.07	.014	.03
77	Colombia	0	1	1	3	45	.07	.000	.04
78	Sudan	0	1	0	2	39	.05	.000	.03
79	South Africa	0	1	0	2	48	.04	.000	.02
80	Indonesia	1	1	3	9	232	.04	.004	.02
81	Afghanistan	0	0	1	1	27	.04	.000	.04
82	Venezuela	0	0	1	1	28	.04	.000	.04
83	Nigeria	0	1	3	5	148	.03	.000	.03
84	Vietnam	0	1	0	2	87	.02	.000	.01
85	Egypt	0	0	1	1	75	.01	.000	.01
86	India	1	0	2	6	1,137	.01	.001	.00
231	Totals	298	300	350	2110	6,671	.32	.045	.14

Per Capita National Olympic Performance

Standard Olympic medal standings neglect obvious comparative inequities. The most glaring of these are vast differences in national populations. Per capita, the US ranks only #35 in medal performance and China ranks only #53. China's 39 gold medals -- 21% of the Olympic total -- are impressive until you realize that China also has 20% of the world's population. Its 15% take of total medals is considerably less than its share of world population, even though it has all the advantages of being the home country (and may well have cheated).

Per-capita, Jamaica, Slovenia and Estonia are #1, 2 and 3 although given that a single medal puts them in or takes them out of the top ten, these positions are not in a sense statistically significant. Among overall medal leader, no country is close to Australia (#4) which has more than 6 times as many medals per capita as the US, and nearly 30 times as many medals per capita as China.

Moreover, these figures may understate smaller nation performance. Many US and Chinese medals come from "team" events, in which small countries are at an extreme disadvantage.

Rank	Country	Gold medals	Silver medals	Bronze medals	4-2-1 points	pop (mil)	Gold medals /mil	Tot medals /mil	421 points /mil
1	Jamaica	2	3	0	14	3	.737	1.84	5.16
2	Slovenia	1	2	2	10	2	.493	2.46	4.93
3	Estonia	1	1	0	6	1	.746	1.49	4.48
4	Australia	11	12	12	80	21	.514	1.64	3.74
5	New Zealand	2	1	3	13	4	.468	1.40	3.04
6	Slovakia	3	1	0	14	5	.555	.74	2.59
7	Denmark	2	1	3	13	5	.364	1.09	2.37
8	Mongolia	1	1	0	6	3	.380	.76	2.28
9	Norway	1	2	2	10	5	.209	1.05	2.09
10	Georgia	2	0	1	9	4	.455	.68	2.05
11	Netherlands	4	5	4	30	16	.243	.79	1.82
12	Belarus	1	3	7	17	10	.103	1.14	1.75
13	Cuba	1	5	5	19	11	.089	.98	1.69
14	Armenia	0	0	5	5	3	.000	1.67	1.67
15	Trinidad and Tobago	0	1	0	2	1	.000	.75	1.50
16	Great Britain	16	9	8	90	61	.264	.54	1.49
17	Switzerland	2	0	3	11	8	.262	.65	1.44
18	Czech Republic	2	3	0	14	10	.192	.48	1.35
19	Finland	1	1	1	7	5	.188	0.56	1.32
20	South Korea	8	10	6	58	48	.166	.50	1.20
21	Panama	1	0	0	4	3	.299	.30	1.20
22	Lithuania	0	1	2	4	3	.000	.89	1.19
23	Azerbaijan	1	2	2	10	8	.118	0.59	1.18
24	Bulgaria	1	1	2	8	8	.131	.52	1.05
25	Romania	4	1	3	21	21	.187	.37	.98
26	Kazakhstan	1	3	4	14	15	.065	.52	.91
27	Hungary	0	4	1	9	10	.000	.50	.90
28	Germany	11	8	9	69	82	.134	.34	.84
29	France	4	11	14	52	64	.062	.45	.81
30	Ukraine	5	4	8	36	46	.109	.37	.78
31	Canada	2	6	5	25	33	.060	0.39	.75
32	Zimbabwe	1	3	0	10	13	.075	.30	.75
33	Italy	6	6	7	43	60	.101	.32	.72
34	Croatia	0	1	1	3	5	.000	.44	.66
35	Sweden	0	3	0	6	9	.000	.33	.65
36	Russia	10	14	18	86	142	.070	.30	.61
37	United States	26	26	27	183	305	.085	.26	.60
38	North Korea	2	1	4	14	24	.084	.29	.59
39	Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	3	5	.000	.38	.56
40	Poland	3	4	1	21	38	.079	.21	.55
41	Austria	0	1	2	4	8	.000	.36	.48
42	Spain	3	4	2	22	46	.065	.20	.48
43	Latvia	0	0	1	1	2	.000	.44	.44
44	Singapore	0	1	0	2	5	.000	.22	.44
45	Kenya	2	3	2	16	38	.053	.19	.43
46	Japan	8	6	8	52	128	.063	.17	.41
47	Tunisia	1	0	0	4	10	.097	.10	.39
48	Greece	0	1	2	4	11	.000	.27	.36
49	Serbia	0	1	1	3	10	.000	.20	.30
50	Cameroon	1	0	0	4	19	.054	.05	.22
51	Portugal	0	1	0	2	11	.000	.09	.19
52	Uzbekistan	0	1	3	5	27	.000	.15	.18
53	China	43	14	19	219	1,326	.032	.06	.17
54	Togo	0	0	1	1	7	.000	.15	.15
55	Ecuador	0	1	0	2	13	.000	.07	.15
56	Tajikistan	0	0	1	1	7	.000	.15	.15
57	Ethiopia	2	1	0	10	79	.025	.04	.13
58	Argentina	1	0	1	5	40	.025	.05	.12
59	Chile	0	1	0	2	17	.000	.06	.12
60	Algeria	0	1	1	3	34	.000	.06	.09
61	Chinese Taipei	0	0	2	2	23	.000	.09	.09
62	Malaysaia	0	1	0	2	27	.000	.04	.07
63	Turkey	0	2	1	5	71	.000	.04	.07
64	Colombia	0	1	1	3	45	.000	.04	.07
65	Thailand	1	0	0	4	64	.016	.02	.06
66	Brazil	1	0	5	9	187	.005	.03	.05
67	South Africa	0	1	0	2	48	.000	.02	.04
68	Indonesia	1	1	3	9	232	.004	.02	.04
69	Morocco	0	0	1	1	31	.000	.03	.03
70	Vietnam	0	1	0	2	87	.000	.01	.02
71	Iran	0	0	1	1	70	.000	.01	.01
72	Egypt	0	0	1	1	75	.000	.01	.01
73	Mexico	0	0	1	1	107	.000	.01	.01
74	India	1	0	0	4	1,137	.001	.00	.00
231	Totals	204	205	231	1457	6,671	.031	.10	.22