High correlation found between per capita services value and per capita imports.
Comparing Services, value added (current US$), per capita with Imports of goods, services and primary income (BoP, current US$), per capita across 186 countries, 2016–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.96
- Holding size constant
- +0.94
- Countries compared
- 186
- Period
- 2016–2025
What might link these
A strong positive relationship suggests that countries with higher per capita service sector output tend to also have higher per capita imports. This could be because developed service economies often rely on imported goods and services, or because open economies facilitate both.
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. While controlling for population and GDP is helpful, other factors like trade policy or technological advancement could still be driving both indicators.
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.