Higher national income strongly linked to greater imports of goods and services.
Comparing Imports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$) with GNI, Atlas method (current US$) across 165 countries, 2015–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.96
- Holding size constant
- +0.89
- Countries compared
- 165
- Period
- 2015–2025
What might link these
Wealthier countries likely import more due to higher demand for diverse goods and production inputs. However, imports and GNI may both be influenced by trade openness or industrialization, which could inflate their association.
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—reverse causality or omitted variables (e.g., trade policies) may drive this link.
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.