2.34 Internet use and babies. The World Bank collects data on many variables related to world development for countries throughout the world. Two of these are Internet use, in number of users per 100 people, and birthrate, in births per 1000 people.¹⁵ Figure 2.13 is a scatterplot of birthrate versus Internet use for the 106 countries that have data available for both variables.

1. (a) Describe the relationship between these two variables.

2. (b) A friend looks at this plot and concludes that using the Internet will decrease the number of babies born. Write a short paragraph explaining why the association seen in the scatterplot does not provide a reason to draw this conclusion.