Urban population linked to GDP per capita
Comparing Population - Est. & Proj. — Urban population, per capita with Gdp worldbank constant usd, per capita across 183 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.61
- Holding size constant
- +0.49
- Countries compared
- 183
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The relationship between urban population and GDP per capita might be driven by factors like economic opportunities and access to resources in urban areas. A careful reader should be cautious about assuming causation and consider likely confounders such as education levels. Education could be a key factor influencing both urbanization and economic productivity.
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 urban population and GDP per capita, when in fact other factors like education and infrastructure 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.