Fewer young girls linked to more reserves
Comparing Reserves excluding gold (SDR), per capita with Population ages 0-14, female, per capita across 171 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.73
- Holding size constant
- -0.65
- Countries compared
- 171
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The relationship between fewer young females and higher reserves excluding gold per capita might be linked to economic development stages, where countries with more reserves tend to have lower birth rates. A careful reader should consider education levels as a likely confounder. This correlation does not imply causation.
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. This correlation could mislead by suggesting a direct link between demographics and financial reserves, ignoring other economic and social factors at play.
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.