Primary school enrollment linked to youth population size
Comparing Population aged 14 years or younger (thousands), per capita with Enrolment in primary education, male (number), per unit of GDP across 188 countries, 2024–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.90
- Holding size constant
- +0.86
- Countries compared
- 188
- Period
- 2024–2025
What might link these
Countries with a higher proportion of young people tend to have higher primary education enrollment rates, even after accounting for economic factors. This could be driven by demographic trends and the inherent need to educate a large youth population.
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 does not imply that higher enrollment causes a larger youth population or vice versa.
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.