Higher national income is linked to larger agriculture sectors.
Comparing Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) with GNI (current US$) across 200 countries, 2011–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.83
- Holding size constant
- +0.41
- Countries compared
- 200
- Period
- 2011–2025
What might link these
Wealthier countries may invest more in agriculture, or agriculture may drive economic growth. However, the drop in correlation after controlling for GDP suggests population size or economic scale plays a big role.
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, and omitted variables like agricultural subsidies or climate could distort the relationship.
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.