Youthful populations correlate with fewer older men, even accounting for wealth and size.
Comparing Population ages 0-14, total, per capita with Population ages 60-64, male, per capita across 213 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.92
- Holding size constant
- -0.90
- Countries compared
- 213
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
This suggests that countries with a larger proportion of young people tend to have a smaller proportion of older men. This could be driven by factors affecting birth rates, life expectancy, or migration patterns that impact these age groups differently. However, without causal evidence, this is only an association.
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 strong negative correlation might be influenced by underlying demographic trends rather than a direct 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.