List of countries by Nobel laureates per capita

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This article lists sovereign countries, territories, and supranational unions by Nobel laureates per capita. The figures include all Nobel Prizes awarded to individuals up to and including 14 October 2019. Population figures are the current values, and the number of laureates is given per 10 million. Only sovereign countries are ranked; unranked entities are marked in italics.

All prizes[edit]

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 		Laureates in last
10 years (2014-2023)
—  Faroe Islands 1 49,489 202.065 0
1  Saint Lucia 2 179,667 111.317 0
2  Luxembourg 2 590,321 33.880 0
3  Sweden 33 9,982,709 33.057 3
4   Switzerland 27 8,544,034 31.601 0
5  Iceland 1 337,780 29.605 0
6  Austria 23 8,751,820 26.280 3
7  Norway 13 5,353,363 24.284 2
8  Ireland 11 4,803,748 22.898 0
9  Denmark 13 5,754,356 22.592 1
10  United Kingdom 138 66,573,504 19.429 9
11  Hungary 15 (22-27)[3] 9,688,847 15.4173 (23.7-27.8) 0
12  Israel 13 8,452,841 15.379 0
13  East Timor 2 1,324,094 15.105 0
14  Germany 114 82,293,457 13.245 7
15  United States 409 326,766,748 11.721 48
16  Netherlands 21 17,084,459 11.707 2
17  France 75 65,233,271 10.664 7
18  Finland 5 5,542,517 9.021 1
19  Belgium 10 11,498,519 8.697 0
20  Cyprus 1 1,189,085 8.410 0
—  European Union[4] 378 444,697,104 8.005
21  Trinidad and Tobago 1 1,372,598 7.285 0
22  Canada 25 36,953,765 6.765 4
23  Australia 15 24,772,247 6.055 1
24  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 3,503,554 5.708 0
25  New Zealand 3 5,275,380 5.686 0
26  Czech Republic 6 10,625,250 5.647 0
27  Latvia 1 1,929,938 5.182 0
28  Croatia 2 3,888,529 5.143 0
29  Poland 19 38,104,832 4.986 1
30  North Macedonia 1 2,085,051 4.796 0
31  Slovenia 1 2,108,708 4.742 0
32  Liberia 2 4,853,516 4.121 0
33  Lithuania 1 2,876,475 3.476 0
34  Italy 20 59,290,969 3.373 1
—  Tibet[5] 1 3,310,836 3.020 0
35  Japan 28 127,185,332 2.202 9
36  Belarus 2 9,452,113 2.116 2
37  Romania 4 19,580,634 2.043 1
38  Costa Rica 1 4,953,199 2.019 0
39  PLO 1 5,052,776 1.979 0
40  Portugal 2 10,291,196 1.943 0
41  Greece 2 11,142,161 1.795 0
42  South Africa 10 57,398,421 1.742 0
43  Spain 8 46,397,452 1.724 0
44  Russia 32 143,964,709 1.598 2
45  Bulgaria 1 7,036,848 1.421 0
—  Hong Kong 1 7,428,887 1.346 0
—  World[6] 919 7,632,819,325 1.204 0
46  Guatemala 2 17,245,346 1.160 0
47  Argentina 5 44,688,864 1.119 0
48  Chile 2 18,197,209 1.099 0
49  Azerbaijan 1 9,923,914 1.008 0
50  Algeria 2 42,008,054 0.476 0
51  Ukraine 2 44,009,214 0.454 1
52  Taiwan 1 23,694,089 0.422 0
53  Colombia 2 49,464,683 0.404 1
54  Egypt 4 99,375,741 0.403 0
55  South Korea 1 51,164,435 0.195 0
56  Yemen 1 28,915,284 0.346 0
57  Ghana 1 29,463,643 0.339 0
58  Venezuela 1 32,381,221 0.309 0
59  Peru 1 32,551,815 0.307 0
60  Morocco 1 36,191,805 0.276 0
61  Iraq 1 39,339,753 0.254 2
62  Turkey 2 81,916,871 0.244 1
63  Iran 2 82,011,735 0.244 0
64  Mexico 3 130,759,074 0.229 0
65  Kenya 1 50,950,879 0.196 0
66  Myanmar 1 53,855,735 0.186 0
67  DR Congo 1 84,004,989 0.119 1
68  Vietnam 1 96,491,146 0.104 0
69  Pakistan 4 200,813,818 0.300 1
70  Ethiopia 1 109,224,410[7] 0.092 0
71  India 11 1,354,051,854 0.081 2
72  China 9 1,415,045,928 0.064 1
73  Bangladesh 1 166,368,149 0.060 0
74  Nigeria 1 195,875,237 0.051 0

By United Nations geoscheme[edit]

Region Countries Nobel
laureates[1] 		Population
(2019)[7] 		Laureates/
10 million
Europe 48 561 747,182,815 7.508
  Northern Europe 13 209 105,768,532 19.760
  Western Europe 9 256 195,522,412 13.093
  Southern Europe 16 37 152,446,950 2.427
  Eastern Europe 10 59 293,444,921 2.011
Americas 55 429 1,014,721,900 4.228
  Northern America 5 408 366,600,944 11.129
  Latin America and the Caribbean 50 21 648,120,956 0.324
    Caribbean 28 3 43,335,006 0.692
    Central America 8 6 177,586,525 0.338
    South America 14 12 427,199,425 0.281
Oceania 23 17 42,128,048 4.035
  Australia/New Zealand 2 17 29,986,262 5.669
  Oceania (ex. Aus. and NZ) 21 0 12,141,786 0.000
    Melanesia 5 0 10,918,534 0.000
    Micronesia 7 0 543,483 0.000
    Polynesia 9 0 679,769 0.000
World[6] 236 919 7,713,468,205 1.191
Africa 58 24 1,308,064,176 0.183
  Northern Africa 7 7 241,780,765 0.290
  Sub-Saharan Africa 51 17 1,066,283,411 0.159
    Southern Africa 5 10 66,629,894 1.501
    Western Africa 17 4 391,440,147 0.102
    Middle Africa 9 1 174,308,427 0.057
    Eastern Africa 20 2 433,904,943 0.046
Asia 52 81 4,601,371,266 0.176
  Western Asia 18 19 275,324,793 0.690
  Eastern Asia 9 42 1,672,611,120 0.251
  Southern Asia 9 16 1,918,211,396 0.083
  South-Eastern Asia 11 4 662,011,846 0.060
  Central Asia 5 0 73,212,111 0.000

Scientific prizes[edit]

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
[2] 		Laureates/
10 million
—  Faroe Islands 1 49,489 202.065
1  Saint Lucia 1 179,667 55.659
2  Luxembourg 2 590,321 33.880
3   Switzerland 22 (18 Swiss-born) 8,811,524 24.967
4  Austria 19 8,751,820 20.567
5  Denmark 10 5,754,356 17.378
6  Sweden 17 9,982,709 17.029
7  United Kingdom 109 66,573,504 16.373
8  Hungary 15 (20-23)[8] 9,688,847 15.385 (-23.7)[9]
9  Norway 8 5,353,363 14.944
10  Germany 92 82,293,457 11.180
11  Netherlands 19 17,084,459 11.121
12  United States 350 326,766,748 10.711
13  Israel 9 8,452,841 10.647
14  Cyprus 1 1,189,085 8.410
15  New Zealand 3 4,749,598 6.316
16  France 39 65,233,271 5.979
17  Canada 22 36,953,765 5.953
—  European Union[10] 247 443,123,600 5.574
18  Finland 3 5,542,517 5.413
19  Australia 13 24,772,247 5.249
20  Belgium 6 11,498,519 5.218
21  Latvia 1 1,929,938 5.182
22  Croatia 2 3,888,529 5.143
23  Slovenia 1 2,108,708 4.742
24  Ireland 2 4,803,748 4.163
25  Lithuania 1 2,876,475 3.476
26  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 3,503,554 2.854
27  Czech Republic 3 10,625,250 2.823
28  Italy 13 59,290,969 2.193
29  Japan 24 126,226,568 1.901
—  Hong Kong 1 7,428,887 1.346
30  Poland 5 38,104,832 1.312
31  Russia 16 143,964,709 1.111
32  Belarus 1 9,452,113 1.058
33  Romania 2 19,580,634 1.021
34  Azerbaijan 1 9,923,914 1.008
35  Portugal 1 10,291,196 0.972
—  World[6] 697 7,632,819,325 0.913
36  South Africa 4 57,398,421 0.697
37  Argentina 3 44,688,864 0.671
38  Spain 2 46,397,452 0.431
39  Taiwan 1 23,694,089 0.422
40  Venezuela 1 32,381,221 0.309
41  Morocco 1 36,191,805 0.276
42  Algeria 1 42,008,054 0.238
43  Ukraine 1 44,009,214 0.227
45  Turkey 1 81,916,871 0.122
46  Egypt 1 99,375,741 0.101
47  Mexico 1 130,759,074 0.076
48  India 7 1,354,051,854 0.052
49  Pakistan 3 200,813,818 0.150
50  Brazil 1 210,867,954 0.047
51  China 5 1,415,045,928 0.035

Inclusion criteria[edit]

  • Prizes are also allocated to citizenship at birth countries stated on the winner's biography on the website of the Nobel Prize committee.[11]
  • 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.

Corrections[edit]

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.[12]
  • 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).[13] 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.[original research?]
  • Australia was credited with only one Nobel laureate in Physics, but up to and including 8 October 2010 there were three Physics laureates associated with that country: William Lawrence Bragg (1915) and Aleksandr Prokhorov (1964), were both born there according to the Nobel Prize website.[14][15] William Henry Bragg lived a significant portion of his life in Australia and while Australian citizenship did not exist until 1949 (after Bragg's death), he would have met the requirements to be an Australian citizen had it existed during the period during his lifetime.[16]
  • BBC News correctly acknowledges South Korea as having two Nobel laureates associated with that country, but due an error in its spreadsheet only one of them is assigned to a particular prize (Peace, 2000). The one that was not specified is Charles J. Pedersen (Chemistry, 1987), who was born in Busan, according to the Nobel Prize website.[17]


See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Which country has the best brains?". BBC News. 2010-10-10. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  2. ^ a b "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. ^ According to Hungarian citizen law there are more: Friedman, Wìesel, Fried, Gajdusek, Politzer, Ruzicka, Prelog
  4. ^ Includes every credit given separately to each of the 27 EU member states. It does not include the Peace Prize given to the EU in 2012.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b c In this case each Nobel laureate was only counted once. Source: "Nobel Prize Facts". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  7. ^ a b "Total Population - Both Sexes". World Population Prospects, the 2019 Revision. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  8. ^ plus Stigler, Furchgott, Osheroff, who are considered half-hungarian born citizens
  9. ^ According to Hungarian citizen law there are more: Friedman, Gajdusek, Politzer, Ruzicka, Prelog
  10. ^ Includes every credit given separately to any of the 27 EU member states.
  11. ^ "The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org". nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on Feb 16, 2024.
  12. ^ "Gabriel Lippmann – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on Jan 18, 2012. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  13. ^ "Lev Landau – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on Nov 5, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  14. ^ "Lawrence Bragg – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on Oct 20, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  15. ^ "Aleksandr M. Prokhorov – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on Nov 5, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  16. ^ Thwaites, Rayner (May 2017). "Report on Citizenship Law: Australia". European University Institute. hdl:1814/46449.
  17. ^ "Charles J. Pedersen – Facts — NobelPrize.org". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2019-10-14.

Further reading[edit]

  • 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

External links[edit]

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