Less agriculture as a share of GDP linked to higher GDP per capita.
Comparing GDP per capita in international and market dollars with Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (constant LCU), per unit of GDP across 193 countries, 2011–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.72
- Holding size constant
- -0.60
- Countries compared
- 193
- Period
- 2011–2025
What might link these
As countries develop, their economies tend to shift from agriculture towards industry and services, which are typically more productive. This correlation suggests that a smaller agricultural sector relative to GDP is associated with higher overall economic output per person. However, this does not imply that reducing agriculture directly causes economic growth.
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 controlling for GDP itself is still negative, but the initial strong negative correlation could be amplified by factors related to overall development levels, not just population and GDP.
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.