Countries with more gold reserves tend to have more fixed telephone lines
Comparing Fixed telephone subscriptions, gaps filled with Gold reserves at market value (SDR) across 149 countries, 2022–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.74
- Holding size constant
- +0.52
- Countries compared
- 149
- Period
- 2022–2025
What might link these
Wealthier nations may hold more gold reserves and also have better infrastructure, including fixed telephone networks. However, the partial correlation remains strong after controlling for population and GDP, suggesting other factors like institutional quality or historical development may play a 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; both indicators may be influenced by unmeasured confounders like technological adoption or colonial history.
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.