Higher GNI per GDP links to lower real GDP per capita
Comparing GNI (current LCU), per unit of GDP with GDP (constant 2015 US$), per capita across 204 countries, 2011–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.62
- Holding size constant
- -0.48
- Countries compared
- 204
- Period
- 2011–2025
What might link these
A potential link could be that countries with relatively high GNI per GDP might be re-allocating income to factors other than domestic production, or experiencing significant outward remittances. However, the relationship is negative and not perfect, suggesting other factors are at play.
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 partial correlation is still significantly negative, but the large drop from the rank correlation suggests that population and GDP are important drivers of the initial observed 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.