Female young adult population rises with economic output, but reverses when wealth is controlled
Comparing Gross value added at basic prices (GVA) (constant 2015 US$) with Age population, age 20, female, interpolated across 192 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.69
- Holding size constant
- -0.54
- Countries compared
- 192
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
Higher GVA may reflect larger or more productive economies that attract young female workers, but once GDP and population are held constant, the negative partial correlation suggests richer countries have fewer young adult women relative to their size. A likely confounder is urbanization, which can both boost GVA and reduce fertility rates.
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. Controlling for GDP and population may introduce collider bias if those variables are themselves influenced by 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.