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.
But the United States is a big country. Where is the game most popular, if you take into account how many people actually live there?
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 the earlier study on its head.
Let's look at the countries in the World Cup first:
Country | All registered 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...
| All registered 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 |