Spurious

beautifully meaningless correlations

US national debt

correlates with

Americans who believe in God

r = -0.91591% · 2005-2022
US national debtAmericans who believe in God

These two datasets have a 91% correlation over 2005-2022. Remember: correlation does not imply causation. But it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively.

Books for people who liked this kind of nonsense

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World by Hans Rosling
Recommended read

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World

Hans Rosling

The world is better than you think, and the data is right there.

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Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World by Vaclav Smil

Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World

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Data Sources

US national debtfiscaldata.treasury.gov ↗
Americans who believe in Godnews.gallup.com ↗
spuriouscorrelation ≠ causation

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