Higher cattle milk yield is linked to greater wood imports across countries
Comparing Industrial roundwood — Import quantity with Raw milk of cattle — Yield/Carcass Weight across 163 countries, 2023–2024.
- Rank correlation
- +0.57
- Holding size constant
- +0.45
- Countries compared
- 163
- Period
- 2023–2024
What might link these
Wealthier or more industrialized countries may import more wood for construction while also having higher agricultural productivity, including cattle milk yield. A careful reader should note that correlation does not imply causation, and other factors like trade policies or agricultural subsidies could 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. The partial correlation remains strong but does not rule out unmeasured confounders like technological advancement or historical industrialization patterns.
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.