People > Nobel prize laureates: Countries Compared

While it is true that some Nobel Prize winners are missing from this list, one cannot ignore that the vast majority of prizewinners come from Europe and North America. <p>55 percent of the winners came from Europe. 41 percent came from North America, including 39 percent from the United States alone. There are 17 winners from Asia, or about 2 percent. Africa has only one winner according to this list, although there are some recipients missing. <p>Why the disparity between regions? For one thing, it is a Europe-based award, so naturally it will concentrate on Europe. Also, wealthier developed nations have more money to spend on research than developing ones, and are more likely to fund so-called “pure” science. This is usually less popular in developing countries, where engineering is often preferred because of its focus on practical, everyday problems like improving water quality.

Hi Andres, Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the Nobel Prize for literaturwe in 1982 "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts". See: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Nobel-Prize-in-Literature#1980s.

South Africa has infact had Ten Nobel Peace Prize winners

Albert Luthuli, 1960
1960 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: President of the African National Congress in South Africa.

Desmond Tutu, 1984
1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: Bishop of Johannesburg and former Secretary General South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.). For his work against apartheid.

FW de Klerk, 1993
1993 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Nelson Mandela, 1993
1993 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Aaron Klug, 1982
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1982: For his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes.


Max Theiler, 1951
1951 Nobel Laureate in Medicine: For his discoveries concerning yellow fever and how to combat it. Read more about Max Theiler’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Alan M. Cormack, 1979
1979 Nobel Laureate in Medicine: For the development of computer assisted tomography.

Sydney Brenner, 2002
2002 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine: For his discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.

Nadine Gordimer, 1991
1991 Nobel Laureate in Literature: Who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity.

JM Coetzee, 2003
2003 Nobel Laureate in Literature: Who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider.