Exports linked to energy use
Comparing Primary energy use, per capita with Goods exports (BoP, current US$), per capita across 178 countries, 2024–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.85
- Holding size constant
- +0.77
- Countries compared
- 178
- Period
- 2024–2025
What might link these
The correlation between goods exports and primary energy use per capita might be driven by industrialization, as countries with more manufacturing tend to have higher energy consumption and exports. A careful reader should consider the role of technological advancement as a potential confounder. The relationship could also be influenced by other factors such as trade agreements and infrastructure.
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 account for other factors that might drive both exports and energy use, such as overall economic development.
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.