Older and middle-aged male populations show a strong link, even after accounting for country size.
Comparing Population aged 65 years or older (thousands), per unit of GDP with Population ages 40-44, male, per unit of GDP across 211 countries, 2011–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.89
- Holding size constant
- +0.82
- Countries compared
- 211
- Period
- 2011–2025
What might link these
The strong correlation suggests a relationship between the proportion of older adults and the proportion of middle-aged males within a country's population, per unit of GDP. This could be driven by demographic trends like differing birth rates over time or longer life expectancies for certain groups.
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. The relationship is between per-GDP measures, meaning economic structure or productivity differences could be a significant confounder or driver of the observed correlation.
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.