Young dependency ratio linked to private sector credit
Comparing Monetary Sector credit to private sector (% GDP) with Age dependency ratio, young (% of working-age population) across 172 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.67
- Holding size constant
- -0.56
- Countries compared
- 172
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
A possible link between the two indicators could be that countries with a higher age dependency ratio may have less credit available for private sector development due to increased social spending. However, a careful reader should be cautious about other factors such as education and healthcare systems, which could influence both indicators. A likely confounder could be the overall economic development stage of a country.
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 relationship between age dependency and credit availability, when in fact it may be driven by broader economic and societal 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.