Energy use linked to service imports
Comparing Service imports (BoP, current US$) with Primary energy use, per capita across 178 countries, 2024–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.57
- Holding size constant
- +0.75
- Countries compared
- 178
- Period
- 2024–2025
What might link these
A possible link between primary energy use and service imports could be through the demand for services that require energy, such as transportation or telecommunications. However, a careful reader should be cautious about assuming a direct relationship, considering potential confounders like industrialization level. The control for GDP and population helps to mitigate some of these concerns, but industrialization could still play a role.
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 causal link between energy use and service imports, when in fact, both may be driven by underlying factors like 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.