Young population linked to fewer exports
Comparing Commercial service exports (current US$), per capita with Population aged 15-24 years (thousands), per capita across 183 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.80
- Holding size constant
- -0.76
- Countries compared
- 183
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
A possible link between the two indicators could be that countries with a larger youth population may have a different economic focus or less developed service sectors, leading to lower commercial service exports per capita. However, a careful reader should be cautious about the potential influence of education levels or technological infrastructure as a confounder. The relationship may also be driven by cultural or institutional factors.
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 youth population and export capacity, when in fact other factors like economic development stage or industry composition may be driving the observed link.
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.