Choking deaths on food in the USIndia IT services exports
As India's IT services exports have grown, American choking deaths have risen, a correlation of 0.987 that connects Bangalore's tech outsourcing industry to American esophageal obstruction with the global indifference of a chart that respects neither national borders nor anatomical boundaries. The code ships from India, the food lodges in America, and the coefficient treats both with the same mathematical seriousness.
India IT exports grew from about 120 billion to over 170 billion dollars between 2015 and 2021. Choking deaths rose with the aging US population. Seven data points of two upward trends in different countries. The IT consultants and the choking victims are on different continents, in different demographics, connected by nothing except both metrics going up during the same period.
Seven years of Indian IT exports and American choking deaths is a correlation that spans 8,000 miles and zero mechanisms. The code is outsourced, the food is consumed, and the chart draws a line between them with the intercontinental confidence of a coefficient that has never cleared customs. The deployment succeeds. The swallow does not. The connection is purely arithmetic.
As an Amazon Associate, getspurious.com earns from qualifying purchases. Learn more.
Want to learn more about why correlations like “Choking deaths on food in the US” vs “India IT services exports” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.