Updated country income classifications for the World Bank’s 2018 fiscal year are available here.
The World Bank assigns the world's economies into four income groups — high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low. We base this assignment on GNI per capita calculated using the Atlas method. The units for this measure and for the thresholds is current US Dollars.
At the Bank, these classifications are used to aggregate data for groups of similar countries. The income-category of a country is not one of the factors used that influence lending decisions.
Each year on July 1st, we update the classifications. They change for two reasons:
1. In each country, factors such as income growth, inflation, exchange rates, and population change, influence GNI per capita.
2. To keep the dollar thresholds which separate the classifications fixed in real terms, we adjust them for inflation.
The data for the first adjustment come from estimates of 2016 GNI per capita which are now available. This year, the thresholds have moved down slightly because of low price inflation and the strengthening of the US dollar. Click here for information about how the World Bank classifies countries.
Updated Thresholds
New thresholds are determined at the start of the Bank’s fiscal year in July and remain fixed for 12 months regardless of subsequent revisions to estimates. As of July 1 2017, the new thresholds for classification by income are:
| Threshold | GNI/Capita (current US$) |
|---|---|
| Low-income | |
| Lower-middle income | 1,006 - 3,955 |
| Upper-middle income | 3,956 - 12,235 |
| High-income | > 12,235 |
Changes in Classification
The following countries have new income groups:
| Country | Old group | New group |
|---|---|---|
| Angola | Upper-middle | Lower-middle |
| Croatia | High-income | Upper-middle |
| Georgia | Upper-middle | Lower-middle |
| Jordan | Upper-middle | Lower-middle |
| Nauru | High-income | Upper-middle |
| Palau | Upper-middle | High-income |
| Samoa | Lower-middle | Upper-middle |
| Tonga | Lower-middle | Upper-middle |
The country and lending groups page provides a complete list of economies classified by income, region, and lending status and links to previous years’ classifications. The classification tables include all World Bank members, plus all other economies with populations of more than 30,000. The term country, used interchangeably with economy, does not imply political independence but refers to any territory for which authorities report separate social or economic statistics.
Tables showing 2016 GNI, GNI per capita, GDP, GDP PPP, and Population data are also available as part of the World Bank's Open Data Catalog. Note that these are preliminary estimates and may be revised. For more information, please contact us at data@worldbank.org.
Thank you for the great stuff you gave.
It was a lot of interesting stuff that could be more about this...
Looking forward to the report.
Very informative ,good work keep it up
Useful.
great
Kindly provide me list of low income countries.
Hello,
You can find that here: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-…
Income Year Classification by Country-Year
Where can I find a country-year list classifying all countries by income level: low income, lower middle income, etc.. for that year, preferably from as early as 1980 to now in a an excel spreadsheet.
If as I have seen online that pre-2006 the world bank classified countries differently using indebtedness instead then what is the earliest year for which the income level classification for all countries for that yeat is availaible and where can i find this spreadsheet.
I look forward to your assistance and advice and thank you for your time.
All the best.
Yasarah Qureshi
Hello Yasarah,
Thank you for inquiring. The income classification is in the same Excel sheet you downloaded. Just navigate to the Country Analytical History tab and you will see it.
Bst,
David