Top 10 · fun
Top 10 countries by chess grandmasters
FIDE grandmasters per million residents. FIDE rating list data, latest year 2026, covering 184 countries.
The top 10
1st of 184 · 2026
Monaco78.25 per 1M people
The other end · bottom 5 of 184
- 89thTrinidad and Tobago0 per 1M people
- 89thUganda0 per 1M people
- 89thVanuatu0 per 1M people
- 89thYemen0 per 1M people
- 89thZimbabwe0 per 1M people
Where the big countries land
- 55thUnited States0.33 per 1M people
- 81stChina0.04 per 1M people
- 75thIndia0.06 per 1M people
- 37thGermany1.23 per 1M people
- 73rdBrazil0.07 per 1M people
Common questions
Questions people ask about chess grandmasters
Which country ranks highest for chess grandmasters?
Monaco ranks 1st of 184 countries at 78.25 per 1M people (2026 data). Source: FIDE rating list.
Which countries are in the top 10 for chess grandmasters?
The top 10 are Monaco, Andorra, Iceland, Montenegro, Armenia, Serbia, Croatia, Georgia, Slovenia and Hungary — computed from FIDE rating list data, latest year 2026.
Where does the United States rank in chess grandmasters?
The United States ranks 55th of 184 countries at 0.33 per 1M people (2026 data). Source: FIDE rating list.
What is the median chess grandmasters worldwide?
Across the 184 countries covered, the median is 0 per 1M people. Values run from 78.25 per 1M people (Monaco, ranked 1st) to 0 per 1M people (Zimbabwe, ranked 89th).
Is chess grandmasters higher in Europe or the US?
The median across 44 European countries is 1.77 per 1M people, against 0.33 per 1M people in the United States — it is higher in Europe. Source: FIDE rating list.
Which country ranks lowest for chess grandmasters?
Zimbabwe sits at the other end of the list: 0 per 1M people ranks 89th of 184 (2026 data). Source: FIDE rating list.
Keep ranking
Keep exploring
More on fun
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- Beer consumptionBeer available for consumption per person per year.
- Coffee consumptionCoffee available for consumption per person per year.
- Wine consumptionWine available for consumption per person per year.
- Chocolate consumptionCocoa available for consumption per person per year, bean equivalent.
Who leads the world
- Monacotops life expectancy86.5 years
- Singaporetops homicide rate0.1 per 100k
- Bulgariatops paid maternity leave59 weeks
Monaco leads on chess grandmasters — see where it lands on every other measure, and which US state it most resembles.
All 68 measures →Every country ranked →Every US state →All the Top 10s →The overall board →How we read the data →