Services value added links to fewer young females
Comparing Population ages 0-14, female, per capita with Services, value added (current US$), per capita across 201 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.86
- Holding size constant
- -0.80
- Countries compared
- 201
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The negative correlation between services value added per capita and the proportion of female population aged 0-14 may suggest that countries with higher economic output in services tend to have lower birth rates or younger populations with more women in education or workforce. A careful reader should consider education levels as a likely confounder. This relationship could be influenced by various societal and economic 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 services sector growth and demographics, when in fact it may be driven by broader societal and economic changes.
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.