Fewer young girls linked to more imports
Comparing Population ages 05-09, female, per capita with Imports of goods and services (BoP, current US$), per capita across 185 countries, 2025–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.84
- Holding size constant
- -0.80
- Countries compared
- 185
- Period
- 2025–2025
What might link these
The correlation might be driven by countries with more developed economies having lower birth rates and higher imports. A careful reader should consider education and women's rights as potential underlying factors. Urbanization could be a likely confounder, influencing both demographics and trade patterns.
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 direct relationship between demographics and trade, when in fact both may be driven by broader economic development.
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.