So far 7,285 athletes have registered to participate in the Universiade Napoli 2019. The 127 participating countries must have completed the registration of additional athletes by June 3rd. Specifically, 3,833 men and 3,452 women are expected with approximately equal numbers of males and females. Currently there is an absolute parity in sports teams: Rugby 7s, football, water polo and basketball. Volleyball is the exception, revealing a male prevalence: 242 men against 192 women. The difference can be explained by the expansion of the men’s tournament to 20 teams against the 16 of the women’s tournament. Parity is registered in sailing as well: 32 athletes among both men and women.
As for memberships, the greatest imbalance is currently represented by athletics (916 men and 769 women) and swimming (502 men and 411 women).
Italy holds the record of 361 participating athletes, followed by the United States with 292 and Japan with 281. The top ten list also includes Russia, Canada, North Korea, France, China, Mexico and Australia. There will be 22 countries with at least 100 athletes, only one male member for Gambia and Zimbabwe and one female member for the Principality of Monaco. At the moment, the countries with the highest number of women enrolled are Italy with 113, the United States with 100 and Poland with 78. North Korea and the United Arab Emirates counterbalance the situation with no women registered in their teams.