The United States won 126 full medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the most of any state for the seventh consecutive Summer Games. Relative to its gross domestic product ( GDP ), though, Team USA’s hardware haul ranks near the bottom—eighth-worst among countries that won a medal, to be exact.
Dominica, an island state in the Caribbean about the size of New York City with fewer residents than Harlem, is at the top of the list after this financial adjustment. Dominican-American Thea LaFond, representing Dominica at her next Olympics, won silver in the triple jump in Paris. With one medal and a GDP of$ 654 million, which ranks 177th in the world according to the World Bank, Dominica’s 1.53 medals per$ 1 billion of GDP led all countries.

Grenada, with a$ 1.32 billion GDP that ranks 172nd in the world, was a close following after winning two bronze medals in Paris—in people’s spear and people’s hostel. Grenada, while, bested its Caribbean cousin in terms of awards per person. Saint Lucia—led by Julien Alfred, who won the children’s 100 meters—placed second in both indicators. Kyrgyzstan is the first land on the list that is located within a 150-mile radius of the Caribbean.
These figures essentially favor smaller locations. Among larger countries, Uzbekistan ( 70th in GDP, 13 medals ), Kenya ( 67th in GDP, 11 medals ), Hungary ( 56th in GDP, 19 medals ) and New Zealand ( 51st in GDP, 20 medals ) had the most impressive performances at the Olympics relative to the sizes of their economies.
India, which has the fifth-largest GDP in the world and a population of roughly 17 % of the world’s population, was unable to get any awards or medals at the other end of the scale. If India had won as some trophies per person as Grenada, it would have won 24, 959 awards. India’s 0.0017 medals per$ 1 billion of GDP ranked behind even Singapore ( 0.0020 ), Indonesia ( 0.0022 ) and Mexico ( 0.0028 ).
At least it made it onto a pulpit, nevertheless, something more than half of the country’s states cannot say. The largest GDPs among that cohort belong to Saudi Arabia ( 19th ), United Arab Emirates ( 29th ), Bangladesh ( 32nd ), Vietnam ( 34th ) and Nigeria ( 42nd ). These two Middle Eastern nations are close to transforming the professional sports landscapes with their investments in sovereign wealth funds, but they were unable to produce an Olympian champion.