Fewer middle-aged men linked to more elderly men
Comparing Population ages 65 and above, male (% of male population) with Population ages 45-49, male, per unit of GDP across 211 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.78
- Holding size constant
- -0.71
- Countries compared
- 211
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The relationship between these indicators might be linked to mortality rates or life expectancy, which could affect the proportion of elderly males in a population. A careful reader should consider that changes in birth rates or migration patterns could also influence these numbers. Life expectancy is a likely confounder here.
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 the two age groups without accounting for other demographic factors.
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.