China finished second in Paris and last per head of population
The Paris 2024 medal table ranks by total. Divide by population and it inverts almost perfectly — China drops from second to sixteenth of sixteen, and Grenada wins by a factor of 269.
- Period
- Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
- Published
- August 10, 2026
- Built with
- Databoat
17.45
medals per million people — the highest rate at the Paris Games
Grenada
- China0.06
- Japan0.37
- United States0.37
- Germany0.4
- Italy0.68
- France0.93
- Great Britain0.94
- Netherlands1.87
- Australia1.91
- Hungary2
- Jamaica2.16
- Bahrain2.49
- New Zealand3.73
- Saint Lucia10.86
- Dominica13.81
- Grenada17.45
Left column is the official ranking. Right is medals per million people. Every large nation falls and every small one climbs — China moves furthest, from second to last.
- Grenada17.45
- Dominica13.81
- Saint Lucia10.86
- New Zealand3.73
- Bahrain2.49
- Jamaica2.16
- Hungary2
- Australia1.91
- Netherlands1.87
- Great Britain0.94
- France0.93
- Italy0.68
- Germany0.4
- United States0.37
- Japan0.37
- China0.06
Grenada took two medals from a population smaller than Cambridge.
| Total | Per million | Golds per m | Per ten million | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 126 | 0.37 | 0.12 | 3.69 |
| China | 91 | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.65 |
| Great Britain | 65 | 0.94 | 0.2 | 9.35 |
| France | 64 | 0.93 | 0.23 | 9.26 |
| Australia | 53 | 1.91 | 0.65 | 19.06 |
| Japan | 45 | 0.37 | 0.16 | 3.66 |
| Italy | 40 | 0.68 | 0.2 | 6.79 |
| Netherlands | 34 | 1.87 | 0.83 | 18.73 |
| Germany | 33 | 0.4 | 0.14 | 3.95 |
| New Zealand | 20 | 3.73 | 1.87 | 37.3 |
| Hungary | 19 | 2 | 0.63 | 20.02 |
| Jamaica | 6 | 2.16 | 0.36 | 21.63 |
| Bahrain | 4 | 2.49 | 1.25 | 24.95 |
| Saint Lucia | 2 | 10.86 | 5.43 | 108.64 |
| Grenada | 2 | 17.45 | 0 | 174.49 |
| Dominica | 1 | 13.81 | 13.81 | 138.1 |
Only the first two columns came from the medal table. The rest were derived.
Length is medals per million. The three Caribbean nations dwarf every traditional sporting power on the chart.
Dominica needed its entire population of 72,412 to win one. China needed 15.4 million per medal.
Method
Two published numbers per nation — medals won at Paris 2024 and national population — and one division. Databoat derived four columns: medals per million people, golds per million, people per medal, and medals per ten million.
Sixteen nations are shown: the ten largest medal hauls, plus six smaller nations that illustrate the inversion. Populations are the current figures listed on Wikipedia; Dominica, Grenada and Saint Lucia come from their own country pages, where the list article omits them.
The inversion is near-total. Every one of the ten biggest medal winners falls when divided by population, and every small nation climbs. China moves furthest — second by total medals, sixteenth of sixteen per head. The United States drops from first to fourteenth.
Whether per capita is the fair measure is a separate argument. A nation of seventy thousand people cannot field a team across thirty-two sports, so a single medal is close to the maximum outcome available to it; a nation of a billion has depth no small country can match. Per capita rewards specialisation and small denominators. Total medals rewards scale. Neither is the real ranking — which is the point of showing both, one beside the other.
Paris 2024 medal table · Populations · Dominica · Grenada · Saint Lucia
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