Reserves linked to imports
Comparing Imports of goods and services (current US$), per capita with Total reserves minus gold (current US$), per capita across 155 countries, 2022–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.81
- Holding size constant
- +0.71
- Countries compared
- 155
- Period
- 2022–2025
What might link these
A possible link between the two indicators could be that countries with higher reserves have more financial capacity to import goods and services. However, a careful reader should be cautious about the potential influence of trade agreements and economic partnerships, which might act as a confounder. The relationship might also be driven by other economic factors not accounted for.
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 might mislead by implying a direct causal relationship between reserve holdings and import capacity, when in fact other economic and political factors are at play.
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.