Countries with higher conversion factors tend to have more mobile subscriptions per GDP.
Comparing DEC alternative conversion factor (LCU per US$) with Mobile cellular subscriptions by country, per unit of GDP across 202 countries, 2020–2025.
- Rank correlation
- +0.66
- Holding size constant
- +0.52
- Countries compared
- 202
- Period
- 2020–2025
What might link these
A higher alternative conversion factor may reflect weaker local currencies, potentially correlating with greater reliance on mobile financial services. However, GDP and population controls don't fully account for economic structure or policy differences.
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 relationship could be driven by unmeasured factors like digital infrastructure investment or informal economies.
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.