List of countries by Nobel laureates per capita

This article includes lists of sovereign countries, territories, and supranational unions by Nobel laureates per capita. That is, lists of said entities ranked by their Nobel Prize winners in relation to their current population. The article does not account for a country's population at the time each prize was awarded. Nobel Prizes have been awarded over more than 100 years, during which time national populations have varied very significantly. Because the population of an entity is significantly higher than its Nobel laureates, the figures have been multiplied by 10 million. Thus, the number on the rightmost column should be read as the number of Nobel laureates of an entity for every 10 million of its population.

The figures include all 908 Nobel Prizes awarded to individuals up to and including 8 October 2018.

Note: Only sovereign countries are ranked; unranked entities are marked in italics.

All prizes

All five prizes (Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine) and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences are considered.

Rank Entity Nobel
laureates[1]		 Population
(2018)[2]		 Laureates/
10 million
— Faroe Islands149,489202.065
1 Saint Lucia2179,667111.317
2 Luxembourg2590,32133.880
3  Switzerland268,544,03430.431
4 Sweden309,982,70930.052
5 Iceland1337,78029.605
6 Denmark145,754,35624.329
7 Norway135,353,36324.284
8 Austria218,751,82023.995
9 United Kingdom13366,573,50419.978
10 East Timor21,324,09415.105
11 Ireland74,803,74814.572
12 Israel128,452,84114.196
13 Germany10882,293,45713.124
14 Netherlands2017,084,45911.707
15 United States375326,766,74811.476
16 France6365,233,2719.658
— European Union[3]481509,697,1049.437
17 Hungary99,688,8479.289
18 Finland55,542,5179.021
19 Belgium1011,498,5198.697
20 Cyprus11,189,0858.410
21 Trinidad and Tobago11,372,5987.285
22 Canada2436,953,7656.495
23 New Zealand34,749,5986.316
24 Bosnia and Herzegovina23,503,5545.708
25 Latvia11,929,9385.182
26 Australia1224,772,2474.844
27 Slovenia12,081,2604.805
28 Macedonia12,085,0514.796
29 Czech Republic510,625,2504.706
30 Liberia24,853,5164.121
31 Lithuania12,876,4753.476
32 Italy2059,290,9693.373
33 Poland1238,104,8323.149
— Tibet[4]13,310,8363.020
34 Croatia14,164,7832.401
35 Japan27127,185,3322.123
36 Belarus29,452,1132.116
37 Romania419,580,6342.043
38 Costa Rica14,953,1992.019
39 Palestine15,052,7761.979
40 Portugal210,291,1961.943
41 Greece211,142,1611.795
42 South Africa1057,398,4211.742
43 Spain846,397,4521.724
44 Russia23143,964,7091.598
45 Bulgaria17,036,8481.421
— Hong Kong17,428,8871.346
— World[5]9087,632,819,3251.190
46 Guatemala217,245,3461.160
47 Argentina544,688,8641.119
48 Chile218,197,2091.099
49 Azerbaijan19,923,9141.008
50 Algeria242,008,0540.476
51 Ukraine244,009,2140.454
52 Taiwan123,694,0890.422
53 Colombia249,464,6830.404
54 Egypt499,375,7410.403
55 Yemen128,915,2840.346
56 Ghana129,463,6430.339
57 Venezuela132,381,2210.309
58 Peru132,551,8150.307
59 Morocco136,191,8050.276
60 Iraq139,339,7530.254
61 Turkey281,916,8710.244
62 Iran282,011,7350.244
63 Mexico3130,759,0740.229
64 Kenya150,950,8790.196
65 South Korea151,164,4350.195
66 Myanmar153,855,7350.186
67 DR Congo184,004,9890.119
68 Vietnam196,491,1460.104
69 Pakistan2200,813,8180.100
70 India101,354,051,8540.074
71 China91,415,045,9280.064
72 Bangladesh1166,368,1490.060
73 Nigeria1195,875,2370.051
74 Brazil1210,867,9540.047

Scientific prizes

Only the awards for Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences are considered.

Rank Entity Nobel
laureates[1]		 Population
(2018)[2]		 Laureates/
10 million
— Faroe Islands149,489202.065
1 Saint Lucia1179,66755.659
2 Luxembourg2590,32133.880
3  Switzerland218,544,03424.579
4 Austria188,751,82020.567
5 Denmark105,754,35617.378
6 Sweden179,982,70917.029
7 United Kingdom10666,573,50415.922
8 Norway85,353,36314.944
9 Netherlands1917,084,45911.121
10 Germany9182,293,45711.058
11 United States342326,766,74810.466
12 Israel88,452,8419.464
13 Cyprus11,189,0858.410
14 Hungary89,688,8478.257
— European Union[6]351509,697,1046.886
15 New Zealand34,749,5986.316
16 France3865,233,2715.825
17 Canada2136,953,7655.683
18 Finland35,542,5175.413
19 Belgium611,498,5195.218
20 Latvia11,929,9385.182
21 Slovenia12,081,2604.805
22 Australia1124,772,2474.440
23 Ireland24,803,7484.163
24 Lithuania12,876,4753.476
25 Bosnia and Herzegovina13,503,5542.854
26 Czech Republic310,625,2502.823
27 Croatia14,164,7832.401
28 Italy1359,290,9692.193
29 Japan23127,185,3321.808
— Hong Kong17,428,8871.346
30 Poland538,104,8321.312
31 Russia16143,964,7091.111
32 Belarus19,452,1131.058
33 Romania219,580,6341.021
34 Azerbaijan19,923,9141.008
35 Portugal110,291,1960.972
— World[5]6917,632,819,3250.905
36 South Africa457,398,4210.697
37 Argentina344,688,8640.671
38 Spain246,397,4520.431
39 Taiwan123,694,0890.422
40 Venezuela132,381,2210.309
41 Morocco136,191,8050.276
42 Algeria142,008,0540.238
43 Ukraine144,009,2140.227
44 Turkey181,916,8710.122
45 Egypt199,375,7410.101
46 Mexico1130,759,0740.076
47 Pakistan1200,813,8180.050
48 Brazil1210,867,9540.047
49 India61,354,051,8540.044
50 China51,415,045,9280.035

Inclusion criteria

The list of Nobel laureates by country was compiled by BBC News using the following criteria:[1]

  • Prizes are allocated to the country/countries stated on the winner's biography on the website of the Nobel Prize committee (www.nobelprize.org).
  • Where the website mentions multiple countries in relation to a prize winner (country of birth; country of citizenship; country of residence at time of award) each of those countries is credited as having won the prize.
  • Where a prize has multiple winners, the country (or countries) of each winner are credited.
  • Prizes which were declined by the winner are included.
  • Prizes won by organisations are not allocated to countries.
  • Winners from Belarus and Ukraine are not credited to Russia. Winners born in what was then Poland but is now Ukraine are credited to Poland.

Note: The BBC News figures included all Nobel Prizes awarded up to and including 8 October 2010. Nobel prizes announced after that date were added generally following the same criteria outlined above (see Updates section below for details).

Corrections

This is a list of corrections made to the original figures provided by BBC News:

  • No award was attributed to Luxembourg, but, according to the Nobel Prize website, Gabriel Lippmann (Physics, 1908) was born in that country.[7]
  • No award was attributed to Azerbaijan, but, according to the Nobel Prize website, Lev Landau (Physics, 1962) was born in the area that is now held by that country (then part of the Russian Empire).[8] The justification for this correction is that BBC News did credit Latvia for Wilhelm Ostwald's 1909 Chemistry Prize, even though his birthplace—Latvia's capital Riga—was by the time he was born (1853) also part of the Russian Empire.
  • Australia was credited with only one Nobel laureate in Physics, but up to and including 8 October 2010 there were two Physics laureates associated with that country: William Lawrence Bragg (1915) and Aleksandr Prokhorov (1964), both of whom were born there according to the Nobel Prize website.[9][10]

Updates

This section details how Nobel Prizes announced after 8 October 2010 were added.

  • 2010 update:
    • Economic Sciences: 2 to the United States and 1 each to Cyprus, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
  • 2011 update:
    • Chemistry: 1 to Israel.
    • Literature: 1 to Sweden.
    • Peace: 2 to Liberia and 1 to Yemen.
    • Physics: 3 to the United States and 1 to Australia.
    • Physiology or Medicine: 2 to the United States and 1 each to Canada, France and Luxembourg.
    • Economic Sciences: 2 to the United States.
  • 2012 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 1 each to Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • Physics: 1 each to France, Morocco and the United States.
    • Chemistry: 2 to the United States.
    • Literature: 1 to China.
    • Peace: Not applicable.
    • Economic Sciences: 2 to the United States.
  • 2013 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 2 to the United States and 1 to Germany.
    • Physics: 1 each to Belgium and the United Kingdom.
    • Chemistry: 3 to the United States, 2 to Israel, and 1 each to Austria, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
    • Literature: 1 to Canada.
    • Peace: Not applicable.
    • Economic Sciences: 3 to the United States.
  • 2014 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 2 to Norway and 1 each to the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • Physics: 3 to Japan and 1 to the United States.
    • Chemistry: 2 to the United States and 1 each to Germany and Romania.
    • Literature: 1 to France.
    • Peace: 1 each to India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.
    • Economic Sciences: 1 to France.
  • 2015 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 1 each to China, Ireland, Japan and the United States.
    • Physics: 1 each to Canada and Japan.
    • Chemistry: 2 to the United States and 1 each to Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
    • Literature: 1 each to Belarus and Ukraine.
    • Peace: Not applicable.
    • Economic Sciences: 1 each to the United Kingdom and the United States.
  • 2016 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 1 to Japan.
    • Physics: 3 each to the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • Chemistry: 1 each to France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • Peace: 1 to Colombia.
    • Economic Sciences: 2 to the United States and 1 each to Finland and the United Kingdom.
    • Literature: 1 to the United States.
  • 2017 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 3 to the United States.
    • Physics: 3 to the United States and 1 to Germany.
    • Chemistry: 1 each to Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • Literature: 1 each to Japan and the United Kingdom.
    • Peace: Not applicable.
    • Economic Sciences: 1 to the United States.
  • 2018 update:
    • Physiology or Medicine: 1 each to Japan and the United States.
    • Physics: 2 to the United States and 1 each to Canada and France.
    • Chemistry: 2 to the United States and 1 to the United Kingdom.
    • Literature: Not awarded.
    • Peace: 1 each to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany and Iraq.
    • Economic Sciences: 2 to the United States.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Which country has the best brains?". BBC News. 2010-10-10. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  2. 1 2 "Total Population - Both Sexes". World Population Prospects, the 2017 Revision. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Includes every credit given separately to each of the 28 EU member states. It does not include the Peace Prize given to the EU in 2012.
  4. ↑ A population estimate for 2018 was calculated using the average annual population growth in the Tibet Autonomous Region between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. 2000 census population: 2,616,329 (Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China). 2010 census population: 3,002,166 (Source: Xinhua News Agency). Formula used: 3002166+(2018-2010)*(3002166-2616329)/(2010-2000)=3310835.6.
  5. 1 2 In this case each Nobel laureate was only counted once. Source: "Nobel Prize Facts". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2014-10-09.
  6. ↑ Includes every credit given separately to each of the 28 EU member states.
  7. ↑ "Gabriel Lippmann – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  8. ↑ "Lev Landau – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  9. ↑ "Lawrence Bragg – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  10. ↑ "Aleksandr M. Prokhorov – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2012-08-16.

Further reading

  • Emeka Nwabunnia, Bishop Emeka Ebisi (2007), The Nobel prize (1901-2000): handbook of landmark records, University Press of America, ISBN 978-0-7618-3573-8
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