(i) Most grades in Youth Sport Participation and Government Support categories are drawn from a 2022 report by the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, a not-for-profit comprised of researchers, health professionals and stakeholders who work together to advance physical activity in children and adolescents. Report cards for the countries evaluated are based on a harmonized framework and standardized grading rubric, as reflected in the Global Matrix 4.0. A grade of C, for instance, means a country is “succeeding with about half (47-53%) of children.”

The Government Support grade is given by experts in that country based on “evidence of leadership and commitment” by government “in providing physical activity opportunities or participation of children and adolescents through policy, legislation or regulation.” No grades were offered in the Global Matrix report for Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., so the Aspen Institute consulted experts in each country, using the same criteria. In the U.S., “D” was the weighted grade offered by 90 experts engaged with Project Play, among them youth sport industry leaders surveyed at a recent conference hosted by LeagueApps.

(ii) The Elite Sport Rank and Elite Sport Rank Per Capita categories are drawn from Greatest Sporting Nation, a website that analyzes elite international competition results in Olympic and other sports, not including those that involve animals or cars. The first category is a measure of the total number of athletes and teams in 2022 who performed well in competition, while the latter calculates results relative to a nation’s total population.