Which country plays the most chess?
Iceland: 120 active rated chess players for every 100,000 people, nearly twice Croatia (63), the next. It also has the most titled players for its size, 150 per million, against 78 in Serbia. The UK has 4.7 active players per 100,000 and the United States 1.5.
Source: FIDE standard rating list, September 2026, and World Bank population.
What stands out
- Slovakia (56.7 per 100,000) and the Czech Republic (52.5) are third and fourth for active players.
- France has more active players for its size than Germany, 25.6 per 100,000 against 16.8, but Germany has more than twice as many titled players for its size: 16.7 per million against 7.2.
- India is 90th of 141, with 1.4 active players per 100,000; China is 121st, with 0.1.
- 13 countries have no titled player at all.
The numbers
| Rank | Country | Active per 100,000 | Titled per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland | 120.3 | 150.1 |
| 2 | Croatia | 62.6 | 63.1 |
| 3 | Slovakia | 56.7 | 23.1 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 52.5 | 29.3 |
| 5 | Serbia | 47.6 | 78.3 |
| 6 | Denmark | 43.3 | 22.6 |
| 7 | Spain | 38.8 | 13.9 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 37.9 | 17.8 |
| 9 | Norway | 37.0 | 25.7 |
| 10 | Slovenia | 34.5 | 55.0 |
| … | |||
| 17 | France | 25.6 | 7.2 |
| 25 | Germany | 16.8 | 16.7 |
| 56 | United Kingdom | 4.7 | 4.5 |
| 83 | United States | 1.5 | 2.2 |
| 90 | India | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| 121 | China | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| … | |||
| 131 | Central African Rep. | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 133 | Afghanistan | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| 133 | Yemen | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| 133 | Burkina Faso | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 133 | Papua New Guinea | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| 137 | Niger | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 137 | Guinea | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 139 | Chad | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 139 | Sierra Leone | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 141 | DR Congo | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The top 10 and bottom 10 of 141, with others for comparison. Ranked by active rated players per 100,000 people.
Download the chart as an image
Data: the FIDE standard rating list for September 2026 (players and titles per federation, counted by Axisless) and World Bank population (SP.POP.TOTL, latest year; CC BY 4.0). Active means not marked inactive on FIDE’s list; titled means grandmaster, international master or FIDE master. England, Scotland and Wales are separate FIDE federations, added together as the UK. FIDE ratings undercount countries where most players are rated only in a national system, England’s ECF grades and US Chess ratings among them, and players under FIDE’s own flag (many Russians and Belarusians since 2022) belong to no country here. Played as puzzles in Daily Shade.