Between 2012 and 2022 the richer the American got, the more people signed up for Netflix globally, and the two curves have climbed together (r = 0.957) in a story that might be told by either a capitalist or a dramaturge with equal satisfaction. Everyone is paying for something, everyone is earning more, and everyone is behind on the final season of something.
Netflix global subscribers grew from 33 million in 2012 to over 230 million by 2022, with international growth (particularly India, LATAM, and EMEA) driving most of the late-period expansion; US GDP per capita rose from about $52,000 to over $76,000 in the same window, helped by services, software, and the continued dominance of US labor productivity in high-skill categories. The two are not causally linked, but they are both products of the same roughly-10-year prosperity window in which discretionary spending on recurring entertainment became mainstream globally.
The subscription renews. The paycheck arrives, slightly larger. The evening is, provisionally, accounted for.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Netflix subscribers worldwide” vs “US GDP per capita” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
