Where is women’s rugby most popular?
Our recent look at player numbers worldwide looked at the numbers of registered players in each country, and showed that the United States have comfortably more women rugby players than anywhere else in the world.
Published by John Birch, July 27th, 2014
2 minute read
The United States has 15,349 registered adult players - and 24,642 registered players of all ages - far more (nearly twice as many) as anywhere else on earth. But the US also has a huge population - nearly 320,000,000 people - so, when it comes to how popular the game is, a simple player count is misleading (for example the US has more female rugby players than the entire population of Tonga!).
So, if we take into account how many women actually live in each country, where is the game most popular? The result is interesting - and rather turns theearlier studyon its head.
Let's look at the countries in the World Cup first:
Country
Allregistered players (inc U18s)
Players per 1000 female population
1
SAMOA
5107
54.38
2
NEW ZEALAND
15182
6.68
3
IRELAND
9854
3.08
4
WALES
2099
1.37
5
ENGLAND
14241
0.54
6
FRANCE
11441
0.35
7
CANADA
5988
0.34
8
AUSTRALIA
2399
0.20
9
SPAIN
1869
0.18
10
KAZAKHSTAN
1444
0.17
11
UNITED STATES
24642
0.15
12
SOUTH AFRICA
7802
0.03
And worldwide...
Country
Allregistered players (inc U18s)
Players per 1000 female population
TONGA
3980
77.25
COOK ISLANDS
462
61.71
SAMOA
5107
54.38
NIUE ISLANDS
30
37.20
AMERICAN SAMOA
270
9.73
SOLOMON ISLANDS
2473
9.31
SWAZILAND
5033
7.76
CAYMAN ISLANDS
204
7.36
NEW ZEALAND
15182
6.68
GUAM
405
4.98
IRELAND
9854
3.08
BERMUDA
87
2.71
BOTSWANA
2650
2.62
MALTA
513
2.47
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
27
1.83
TAHITI
137
1.54
WALES
2099
1.37
SCOTLAND
2973
1.12
HONG KONG
3504
0.97
ST VINCENT
52
0.95
ANDORRA
35
0.92
VANUATU
120
0.91
TUNISIA
4844
0.89
NAMIBIA
901
0.85
FIJI
250
0.58
ENGLAND
14241
0.54
BARBADOS
63
0.44
UGANDA
7760
0.44
MOLDOVA
740
0.42
FRANCE
11441
0.35
CANADA
5988
0.34
GUYANA
110
0.28
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
169
0.25
ZAMBIA
1870
0.25
ZIMBABWE
1608
0.25
SRI LANKA
2329
0.23
MADAGASCAR
2198
0.21
ITALY
6243
0.21
AUSTRALIA
2399
0.20
BELGIUM
1085
0.19
SPAIN
1869
0.18
LUXEMBOURG
49
0.18
KAZAKHSTAN
1444
0.17
UNITED STATES
24642
0.15
JAMAICA
200
0.15
DENMARK
412
0.15
BULGARIA
476
0.13
NETHERLANDS
1051
0.12
SINGAPORE
310
0.11
URUGUAY
180
0.11
LATVIA
103
0.10
SWEDEN
480
0.10
MAURITIUS
60
0.10
NORWAY
500
0.09
PORTUGAL
458
0.09
BAHAMAS
15
0.09
SENEGAL
514
0.08
GEORGIA
163
0.07
CZECH REPUBLIC
356
0.07
FINLAND
183
0.07
PARAGUAY
225
0.07
ROMANIA
630
0.06
HUNGARY
312
0.06
CAMEROON
600
0.06
SERBIA
208
0.06
MOROCCO
933
0.06
MONACO
1
0.05
LITHUANIA
74
0.05
GERMANY
1986
0.05
JAPAN
2738
0.04
BOSNIA & HERZ.
80
0.04
CROATIA
87
0.04
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
150
0.04
COLOMBIA
877
0.04
KENYA
718
0.03
THAILAND
960
0.03
SOUTH AFRICA
7802
0.03
SLOVENIA
30
0.03
ISRAEL
110
0.03
AUSTRIA
113
0.03
ARGENTINA
566
0.03
SWITZERLAND
270
0.02
RUSSIA
1712
0.02
CHILE
180
0.02
GREECE
104
0.02
POLAND
339
0.02
BRAZIL
1409
0.01
CHINESE TAIPEI
160
0.01
UKRAINE
230
0.01
VENEZUELA
140
0.01
PHILIPPINES
435
0.01
PERU
132
0.01
SOUTH KOREA
185
0.01
UAE
216
0.01
MALAYSIA
100
0.01
PAKISTAN
404
0.00
INDIA
1993
0.00
MEXICO
168
0.00
IVORY COAST
140
0.00
NIGERIA
100
0.00
CHINA
600
0.00
INDONESIA
33
0.00