Manufacturing value added links to lower GDP per capita
Comparing GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) with Manufacturing, value added (current LCU), per unit of GDP across 194 countries, 2011–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.57
- Holding size constant
- -0.44
- Countries compared
- 194
- Period
- 2011–2025
What might link these
The negative correlation might suggest that countries with a higher proportion of manufacturing value added in their GDP tend to have lower GDP per capita, possibly due to differences in economic structures or stages of development. A careful reader should consider the potential impact of other factors, such as education or technological advancement, which could influence both indicators. Education level is a likely confounder that could affect both manufacturing efficiency and overall GDP per capita.
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 causal relationship between manufacturing and GDP per capita, when in fact, other underlying economic or structural factors may be driving the observed association.
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.