Fewer young women as GDP grows, more older women
Comparing Population ages 60-64, female, per capita with Population ages 20-24, female, per unit of GDP across 211 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.77
- Holding size constant
- -0.69
- Countries compared
- 211
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The negative correlation might suggest that countries with more older women tend to have fewer young women relative to their GDP, possibly due to lower birth rates or changing population structures. A careful reader should consider education and family planning access as potential underlying factors. Urbanization could be a confounder, influencing both age distribution and GDP.
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, when in fact it may be driven by broader demographic and economic trends.
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.