Industrial activity correlates with national foreign exchange reserves.
Comparing Industry (including construction), value added (current US$), per capita with Total reserves minus gold (current US$), per capita across 174 countries, 1989–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.74
- Holding size constant
- +0.67
- Countries compared
- 174
- Period
- 1989–2025
What might link these
A stronger industrial sector often leads to higher export revenues, which in turn can build up a nation's foreign exchange reserves. However, this relationship doesn't account for global economic conditions or specific trade policies that 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 correlation does not imply that increasing industry directly causes reserves to grow, as other global economic factors are at play.
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.