Coal use linked to government spending
Comparing General government final consumption expenditure (current US$) with Coal consumption, per capita across 173 countries, 2024–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.62
- Holding size constant
- +0.43
- Countries compared
- 173
- Period
- 2024–2025
What might link these
The relationship between coal consumption and government expenditure might be driven by industrialization levels, as countries with higher industrial activity tend to consume more coal and have larger government expenditures. A careful reader should be cautious about potential confounders like urbanization rates. The partial correlation controlling for population and GDP reduces but does not eliminate the 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. This correlation could mislead by implying a direct relationship between coal consumption and government spending, when in fact both may be driven by underlying factors like economic development.
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.