Civil liberties linked to lower imports
Comparing Imports of goods, services and primary income (BoP, current US$) with Civil liberties rating, per capita across 176 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.75
- Holding size constant
- -0.49
- Countries compared
- 176
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The relationship between civil liberties and imports might be influenced by a country's level of economic development or political stability, which could affect both indicators. A careful reader should consider that trade agreements or political alliances could also play a role. A likely confounder is the level of economic globalization.
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 causal link between civil liberties and trade policies, when in fact other factors may be driving 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.