Older women relative to GDP correlates with foreign reserves per person.
Comparing Reserves excluding gold, foreign exchange (SDR), per capita with Population ages 60-64, female, per unit of GDP across 169 countries, 2022–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.64
- Holding size constant
- -0.49
- Countries compared
- 169
- Period
- 2022–2025
What might link these
Countries with a higher proportion of older women relative to their GDP tend to have lower foreign exchange reserves per capita. This might reflect differing economic development stages or demographic pressures on national finances, though a direct causal link is not established.
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 could be driven by broader economic development or demographic trends that influence both indicators independently.
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.