Service exports relate to service imports
Comparing Service exports (BoP, current US$), per unit of GDP with Service imports (BoP, current US$), per capita across 199 countries, 1994–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.68
- Holding size constant
- +0.50
- Countries compared
- 199
- Period
- 1994–2025
What might link these
The relationship between service exports per unit of GDP and service imports per capita might be driven by a country's overall level of economic integration and trade openness. A careful reader should be cautious about potential confounders like economic globalization, which could influence both indicators. The correlation remaining after controlling for population and GDP suggests a more nuanced relationship.
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 exports and imports, when in fact they might both be driven by underlying economic factors.
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.