High imports correlate with high investment, even after accounting for country size and wealth.
Comparing Imports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$), per capita with Gross fixed capital formation (current US$), per capita across 164 countries, 2015–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.94
- Holding size constant
- +0.92
- Countries compared
- 164
- Period
- 2015–2025
What might link these
Countries with higher gross fixed capital formation per capita tend to have higher imports of goods and services per capita. This could reflect a demand for imported capital goods or components necessary for investment, or a general openness to trade facilitating investment. However, other factors like trade policy, global economic conditions, and institutional quality could influence both indicators.
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 high correlation does not imply that increased imports directly cause increased investment, as both may be driven by other underlying economic development 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.