Pig meat production closely tracks pig fat output across countries.
Comparing Meat of pig with the bone, fresh or chilled (indigenous) — Gross Production Value (constant 2014-2016 thousand I$) with Fat of pigs — Production across 150 countries, 1990–2024.
- Rank correlation
- +0.97
- Holding size constant
- +0.95
- Countries compared
- 150
- Period
- 1990–2024
What might link these
Both indicators are core outputs of pig farming, so high correlation is expected. However, GDP and population controls only slightly weaken the link, suggesting other shared drivers like regional dietary habits or agricultural policies.
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. Production volumes may be reported by the same agencies, creating an artificial inflation of agreement.
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.