Naturally, there are a number of ways in which countries may be ranked. With factors such as population, local hosting of events and differing cultures, finding an underlying factor may prove to be difficult.

However, one thing stands true regardless – prize pool speaks volumes. Moreover, larger events with tighter competition tend to offer greater prize pools. Bearing this in mind, a country with more overall prize earnings is more likely to be home to international champions, to be one of the top esports countries.

Notably, the only drawback with such a ranking is that with time, esports tournament prize pools have only grown larger, which places more emphasis on recent performances than a decade ago. This has resulted in esports players earning more money on average per tournament despite playing in 40% fewer tournaments.

So, regardless of population, geography and culture, overall earnings will dictate our rankings.

Esports Earnings By Country: Top 20 Esports Country Ranking

For context, in 2022, the esports industry was valued at almost $2.0 billion. With so many prize pools going around, EsportsEarnings provides a clear picture when it comes to overall esports earnings by country for the best esports countries:

1. China – $236,608,159.34
2. United States – $224,901,776.14
3. Korea – $126,025,768.08
4. Russian Federation – $63,585,247.11
5. Denmark – $50,883,388.65
6. Sweden – $47,400,562.73
7. Brazil – $45,326,947.09
8. France – $44,267,739.94
9. Germany – $40,549,463.16
10. Canada – $39,673,332.56
11. United Kingdom – $36,161,122.04
12. Finland – $30,634,033.74
13. Ukraine – $29,759,989.19
14. Japan – $27,629,682.65
15. Australia – $25,024,045.33
16. Thailand – $22,037,166.37
17. Poland – $21,575,019.32
18. Taiwan – $18,240,053.54
19. Malaysia – $17,483,870.09
20. Philippines – $17,175,816.34

Each with its own story, every one of the top 20 esports countries has its own favourite history alongside a preferred esports title – let’s dive deeper!