Countries with younger populations tend to consume less oil per person
Comparing Population aged 14 years or younger (thousands), per capita with Oil consumption, per capita across 202 countries, 2024–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.76
- Holding size constant
- -0.68
- Countries compared
- 202
- Period
- 2024–2025
What might link these
Younger populations may drive less, rely on public transport, or have lower industrial energy demand, reducing oil use. However, GDP and population are imperfect controls—wealthier nations with older populations may still consume more oil despite the correlation.
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 doesn’t imply causation; other factors like industrialization or energy policies could drive both trends.
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.