Young male populations correlate with commercial service imports.
Comparing Commercial service imports (current US$), per capita with Population ages 20-24, male, per capita across 184 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.70
- Holding size constant
- -0.63
- Countries compared
- 184
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
A higher proportion of young males in a population might be linked to increased demand for certain services, such as education or specialized labor migration, which could in turn drive commercial service imports. However, this relationship could also be influenced by underlying economic development patterns or global trade dynamics.
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 a larger young male population causes increased service imports, as unobserved economic or social factors could be driving both.
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.