An independent analysis showed that rich countries tend to show better results in international competitions. The United Kingdom became a sensation of the recent Rio 2016 winning 27 gold medals and taking the second place by the medal count. A population of rich countries is usually healthy and their governments can invest more funds in sport development.
When a country’s economy is well-developed, the government can pay more attention to such spheres as sports and therefore select promising athletes and create better conditions for them. The UK raised its sports spending fivefold, from 50 million pounds to 250 million pounds in the period from 2000 to 2012. The medal count jumped accordingly. A population is considered another advantage in an Olympic gold hunt. It seems that it is easier to find future sports stars in countries with a larger population.
However, a population size will not matter if the government is unable to care about its citizens duly. India, being the world’s second most populated country, collected just 2 medals (silver and bronze) in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, New Zealand, which population is around 4.6 million people, managed to win 18 medals, including four gold ones. All in all, it seems care about people’s well-being leads to success both in an economy and in the Olympic Games.
