World Cup and World Population

Country / Territory Population Date of estimate % of World Population Source

1 People's Republic of China 1,338,350,000 June 29, 2010 19.59% Chinese Official Population Clock
2 India 1,182,740,000 June 29, 2010 17.32% Indian Official Population Clock
3 United States 309,612,000 June 29, 2010 4.53% United States Official Population Clock
4 Indonesia 231,369,500 July 2009 3.39% Statistics Indonesia
5 Brazil 193,146,000 June 29, 2010 2.83% Brazilian Official Population Clock
6 Pakistan 169,877,500 June 29, 2010 2.49% Official Pakistani Population clock
7 Bangladesh 162,221,000 2.38% UN estimate
8 Nigeria 154,729,000 2.27% UN estimate
9 Russia 141,927,297 January 1, 2010 2.08% Federal State Statistics Service of Russia
10 Japan 127,360,000 May 1, 2010 1.87% Official Japan Statistics Bureau
11 Mexico 107,550,697 July 1, 2009 1.57% INEGI estimate National Population Statistics of Mexico[4]
12 Philippines 92,226,600 Mid-2009 1.35% National Statistics Office medium projection
13 Vietnam 85,789,573 April 1, 2009 1.26% Preliminary 2009 census result
14 Germany 81,757,600 January 1, 2010 1.2% Eurostat estimate
15 Ethiopia 79,221,000 July 2008 1.16% Ethiopia Central Statistics Agency
16 Egypt 78,650,000 June 29, 2010 1.15% Official Egyptian Population clock
17 Iran 74,196,000 1.09% UN estimate
18 Turkey 72,561,312 December 31, 2009 1.06% Turkish Statistical Institute estimate
19 Dem. Rep. of Congo 66,020,000 0.97% UN estimate
20 Francen3 65,447,374 January 1, 2010 0.96%

List courtesy of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the 20 largest countries in the world in regards to population and how many of them made the World Cup. I am not sure why this is interesting to me. Maybe because you would expect the larger countries (regarding population) to have a better chance to make it to the World Cup and succeed while there. Let's see if that is true. Please note that the list above is courtesy of Wikipedia and I have the link to the site right below the above list if you want to visit it yourself. Here we go.

Only 7 of the worlds 20 largest countries (population) made the World Cup. Out of those 7 teams only 2 (Brazil and Germany) remain as of right now (6-29-2010 at 1:35PM). According to the already mentioned list, Ghana is the 48th largest country, Netherlands is 61st, Portugal is 77th, Paraguay is 103rd, and Uruguay is 131st. Just in case you don't know, that last sentence is not just random countries but it is a list of countries still left in the World Cup that are not in the top 20 in regards to population.

I find it interesting that China has 20% of the worlds population but cannot qualify for the World Cup. India has a little over 17% of the worlds population and they also did not qualify. Obviously, just because you have a lot of people does not guarantee that any of them know how to play soccer but come on now.

To sum it up I am not exactly sure what point I was trying to prove or disprove. I think I just like numbers and I find it interesting that many of the largest countries in the world by population are really not that good at soccer.