What if all European Union member states were aggregated into a single block?

At first glance, the EU would have dominated the winter Olympic games, with: 31 gold, 38 silver, and 42 bronze medals; 111 medals in all.

Of course, if the EU sent a single delegation, fewer athletes would have been in competition; arguably, a single delegation would have won fewer medals.

Taking only medalists into account, the European Union turns out to be a powerhouse when compared to total population: with 111 medals (gold, silver, and bronze combined) and a total population of 500 million, the EU “produced” 0.22 medals per million inhabitants (mpM).

How does 0.22 mpM compare with other countries?

It surpasses Japan (5 medals/128 million population= 0.04 mpM), Russia (15 medal/142 million population= 0.11 mpM), or the USA (37 medals/304 million population= 0.12 mpM).

By this metric, the EU trails behind Korea (14 medals/48 million population= 0.29 mpM) or Canada (26 medals/33 million population= 0.79 mpM). Norway towers above all: 23 medals with a population of 4.7 million, or 7 medals per million inhabitants.