Which Country Is Best In The World At Karate?
When discussing which country is the best at karate, there are many variables to consider. For example, is kata relevant when speaking about modern day karate? Does performing kata flawlessly actually mean you are good at karate?
Also, what about karate in MMA? Specialists such as Lyoto Machida and Stephen Thompson have used karate sucessfully in a mixed martial arts arena. Is this the highest level of competition?
Lastly, does it matter how many people do karate in terms of population? As a hypothetical example, if Luxembourg were to win 2 gold medals and the USA were to win 3, who has been more successful? The population of the USA is almost 330 million, where as Luxembourg is well under 1 million. Therefore it is obviously a lot easier to the USA to win gold medals in the sport.
Culturally there will be differences as well. Thailand will have a fantastic level of strikers in their country due to the popularity of Muay Thai. However, they will not have many karate champions because Thailand does not care about karate as a sport compared to other countries.
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Best Countries Under The World Karate Federation
In organized sports, federations are not very popular. This is because they often come up with rules which are strongly disliked by many athletes, are expensive to fund, and can sometimes have very unscrupulous individuals in positions of power. With that being said, at least under one organization, there is little to dispute in terms of who has won the most medals.
The karate world championships have been held every 2 years since 1970 and have set rules for both kata and kumite formats. Whilst sport karate is frowned upon in terms of its practicality, it does at least offer good technique, conditioning, and competitive spirit.
Table Of Results (1970 to 2018) showing gold, silver, bronze, and total medals.
| 1 |  Japan | 90 | 52 | 56 | 198 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  France | 55 | 45 | 67 | 167 |
| 3 |  Spain | 21 | 27 | 69 | 117 |
| 4 |  Italy | 19 | 33 | 56 | 108 |
| 5 |  Great Britain | 29 | 22 | 25 | 76 |
| 6 |  Turkey | 12 | 10 | 32 | 54 |
| 7 |  Germany | 8 | 12 | 32 | 52 |
| 8 |  Iran | 10 | 8 | 23 | 41 |
| 9 |  Netherlands | 10 | 11 | 18 | 39 |
| 10 |  United States | 6 | 11 | 18 | 35 |
| 11 |  Egypt | 5 | 8 | 22 | 35 |
| 12 |  Venezuela | 4 | 3 | 10 | 17 |
| 13 |  Azerbaijan | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| 14 |  Brazil | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 |
| 15 |  Croatia | 3 | 4 | 9 | 16 |
| 16 |  Australia | 3 | 3 | 10 | 16 |
The table shows that Japan has been the most successful country in terms of both gold and total medals, although with that being said, it has a very population compared to other countries on the list such as Azerbaijan.
Total Medals Per Population
Japan 1.57 Medals per million population
France 2.49 Medals per million population
Spain 2.49 medals per million population
Italy 1.8 medals per million population
Britain 1.15 medals per million population
Turkey 0.66 medals per million population
Iran 0.5 medals per million population
Netherlands 2.29 medals per million population
USA 0.1 medals per million population
Egypt 0.36 medals per million population
Venezuela 0.61 medals per million population
Azerbaijan 1.6 medals per million population
Brazil 0.08 medals per million population
Croatia 4 medals per million population
Australia 0.64 medals per million population
Best Countries Under World Karate Federation
Overall Japan has won the most medals, but it is the small country of Croatia that has won 4 medals per every million people. France and Spain have also been excellent performers overall. Both winning 167 and 117 medals respectively, whilst both earned 2.49 medals for every million people living within their borders.
Best Countries For Karate in MMA or Self Defense
Judging countries by their use of karate for self-defense or even in an MMA setting is incredibly difficult. This is because the sample size of karate within MMA is really quite small. Most athletes are using a mixture of styles with a heavy emphasis based on boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Due to the unpopular style of karate within MMA it is quite unfair to judge any country based on the success or lack of success in this sport. Although it is a good measure of how karate would do in a street fight or an unprovoked attack. The results of MMA fights can be unrelated to karate even if it were two karate specialists facing off against each other.
Lastly, due to the relatively small number of top-level athletes from each country, it isn’t really fair to judge a country based on a singular athlete. Stephen Thompson is widely considered to be the best (or at least one of the best) karate practitioners in the UFC. As he is an American, you could say that America was the best at karate, but this would be quite a ridiculous conclusion to draw from a single athlete.
Overall Best Countries In The World For Karate
As we do not really have an objective measure, it is very difficult to say who the absolute best country in the world for karate is.
With that being said, we can really draw quite a lot of valid conclusions from the data we have available and discover who are the best countries in the world.
It is quite clear to see that Europe is the main powerhouse for karate. Whilst Japan may have the most medals in the WKF, Japan is also the home of karate, so we would expect it to do well.
Other countries that seem to be the best at karate are France and Spain. Perhaps the countries that are the least well known for their karate expertise are Croatia and the Netherlands.
From the findings, we can safely say that the best countries in the world for karate (in no particular order) are:
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Spain
- France
- Croatia
