Countries with more paper imports tend to have higher mobile subscriptions
Comparing Paper and paperboard — Import quantity with Mobile cellular subscriptions by country, gaps filled across 177 countries, 2024–2024.
- Rank correlation
- +0.75
- Holding size constant
- +0.45
- Countries compared
- 177
- Period
- 2024–2024
What might link these
Wealthier or more industrialized nations may import more paper (for packaging, publishing, etc.) and also have higher mobile adoption due to infrastructure. However, the drop in correlation after controlling for GDP/population suggests population size or economic development partially drives the link.
Why this is not proof of anything
This is a correlation across countries, not an experiment. It cannot show that either indicator causes the other, and both may simply follow a third thing. Correlation does not imply causation; other unmeasured factors (e.g., urbanization, trade openness) could explain the pattern.
The second figure above repeats the measurement with national population and income held constant. It is the more conservative number: a relationship that largely disappears there was mostly telling you that larger, richer countries have more of most things.
How this was measured
Both indicators were ranked across every country reporting each, and the two rankings compared — ranks rather than raw values, because a handful of very large countries can otherwise manufacture a relationship on their own. The calculation is arithmetic over figures already published on this site; the commentary above is drafted from the two indicator names and the resulting coefficients.