The site pulls data from a large variety of sources like public databases, government records, sports statistics, and economic reports. It then looks for false trends that just happen to match up.
Some of the best examples that I’ve come across, besides the above, are: SpaceX rocket launches tracking alongside MrBeast’s YouTube subscriber count and smoking rates in the U.S. inversely lining up with babies named Khaleesi.
On the Get Spurious homepage it presents you with a random spurious correlation. Each includes a chart showing how the two trends line up over time, plus a correlation score measuring how closely they match. You can click Browse all to explore all of the other examples. You can also search by topic, including food, science, sports, and economics.
It’s an entertaining rabbit hole, but there’s a useful lesson here, too. Correlation doesn’t equal causation. Just because two statistics move together doesn’t mean one has anything to do with the other. It’s a fallacy that is too often ignored nowadays and the site is a chuckle-inducing reminder as to why you shouldn’t believe every eye-catching statistic you see online.
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