Higher female workforce participation linked to greater imports per person.
Comparing Imports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$), per capita with Population ages 30-34, female, per unit of GDP across 171 countries, 2015–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.94
- Holding size constant
- -0.92
- Countries compared
- 171
- Period
- 2015–2025
What might link these
A larger proportion of women in the 30-34 age group, relative to economic output, may indicate a more robust and diverse labor market. This could lead to increased demand for imported goods and services to support a more active economy and potentially higher living standards.
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. While a strong correlation exists, it's important to remember that this does not imply causation, and other unmeasured factors could be driving both trends.
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.