Higher health system scores associate with greater potato yields across countries
Comparing Potatoes — Yield with Health system composite index across 133 countries, 2023–2024.
- Rank correlation
- +0.64
- Holding size constant
- +0.48
- Countries compared
- 133
- Period
- 2023–2024
What might link these
Wealthier or more developed nations may invest in both robust health systems and agricultural technology, boosting potato yields. A careful reader should note that richer countries can afford better inputs, but this does not imply health systems directly improve potato farming.
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. The link could be driven by overall national wealth rather than any direct connection between health and agriculture.
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.