The top countries of territories on the list of athletes per population are dominated by very small countries that send a few athletes. Atop the list of Cook Islands, an associated state of New Zealand located in the South Pacific. With 8 athletes representing its population of 10,777, according to CIA World Factbook as of July 2011, Cook Islands have one athlete representing around 1,350 people. At the bottom of the list is Bangladesh. With 5 athletes representing the country of more than 161 million people, that is a rate of over 32 million people per athlete. The factor of difference between the rate of Cook Island and that of Bangladesh is nearly 24,000.
Of the countries or territories on top of the per capita list, if a filter of 100,000+ population is enacted, Iceland tops the list. With 28 athletes for a population of over 300,000, the rate is over 11,000 people per athlete. When a filter of 1,000,000+ population is enacted, New Zealand tops the list. In comparison, the United States, with 534 athletes, has over 580,000 people per athlete.
Sources:
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/interactive/2012/jul/27/olympic-athletes-list-visualised
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cw.html
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ic.html
