Updated country income classifications are available here.
The World Bank assigns the world’s economies to four income groups—low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries. The classifications are updated each year on July 1 and are based on GNI per capita in current USD (using the Atlas method exchange rates) of the previous year (i.e. 2019 in this case).
The classifications change for two reasons:
- In each country, factors such as economic growth, inflation, exchange rates, and population growth influence GNI per capita. Revisions to national accounts methods and data can also influence GNI per capita. The updated data on GNI per capita data for 2019 can be accessed here.
- To keep the income classification thresholds fixed in real terms, they are adjusted annually for inflation. The Special Drawing Rights (SDR) deflator is used which is a weighted average of the GDP deflators of China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Euro Area. This year, the thresholds have moved up in line with this inflation measure. The new thresholds (to be compared with GNI per capita in current USD, Atlas method) are as follows.
Changes in classifications
The table below lists the ten economies that are moving to a different category. It is important to emphasize that the World Bank’s income classifications use the GNI of the previous year (2019 in this case). Thus, the GNI numbers that are used for this year’s classification do not yet reflect the impact of COVID-19.
National accounts revisions have played a significant role in the upward revision for Benin, Nauru and Tanzania. For Sudan, the GNI series for 2009-2018 has been revised as a result of revisions to the exchange rates. The 2018 GNI per capita figure has been revised down to $840 from the previously published figure of $1,560 (which is listed in the table). Algeria, Indonesia, Mauritius, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Romania were very close to the respective thresholds last year.
More information
More detailed information on how the World Bank classifies countries is available here. 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 lending groups (IDA, Blend, IBRD) have also been updated. 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.
Data for GNI, GNI per capita, GDP, GDP PPP, and Population for 2019 are now available on the World Bank's Open Data Catalog. Note that these are preliminary estimates and may be revised. For more information, please contact us at [email protected].
Share this on Twitter:
Is it possible to have a country moved from a lower class to a higher class while majority of it's citizens are poor?
If yes, then what does that mean?
Yes, it is possible. It shows that the rich sections of that country have got more richer while the poor section are still poor or probably have become more poorer.
Many thanks for my lovely country to be MIC
still need more explanation about Tanzania to enter in mid income in 2020
Tanzania ranked to a lower middle income (LMI)
This is useful information
Tanzanians are happy to move forward to the next step👏👏👏
Umar and Nada,
Thanks for keeping this important tool up to date. I know there is an important internal mandate, but the income estimates and classifications have many external users as well.
Best wishes, Eric
Great work and effort. Although, I have always been skeptical regarding the theory of Inflation which is one of the good indicator of country GDP and others key factors of economic indicators.
But in the case of my country the reverse is the case, the general prices of goods and services are inflating without abundance supply of money in circulation.
1. Please what can you say about this economic scenario?
2. Will it not be a bias data to be use for economic analysis?
3. Economist views and solutions to such scenarios.
Thanks and Regards.
I appreciate for your classification report.
Nevertheless, I would like to understand the methodology usually used to collect and analyse the data in developing countries given the majority of small business are still informally organized.
Basic Education, Industrialization are the key two factors you can use to measure economic class in a country.
What is basic education means
The knowledge or skills that enable an individual to live and gets daily basis needs.
Good information to Nepal.
Excellent report
I am very proud of my Country Tanzania.
am so happy to hear that Tanzania improve to any stage through their efforts,am so proudly with my country tanzania wish us to be encouraged on still producing much and hardwork be firstly rather than other thing
Good news for nepal
Very useful, although my country, DRCongo, still low-income one.
What about the case of dropping to a lower level does happen
Tanzania weldone
Do these changes impact the ICP 2017 Report on the global share of the world's economy?
Together we can eradicate poverty. By creating more job opportunities. Helping hands and being innovative. Also creating empowerment programs to help build individuals for national interest.
Very informative and reliable.Kindly when updating us on the economies moving up or down,present the other countries in full.Lets keep safe from Covid-19.Thank you very much
income of Sri Lanka mainly dropped due the terrorist attack in 2019
interest if the country can show an improvement in next years
Excellent work.
How do we explain the position of a country when theoretically nation falls in lower middle income in terms of GNI/ Per person income but almost one third population falls below poverty line as per govt own data.
I want to believe that GNI Per capita is always influenced by value of one national currency and particularly exchange rates. If inflation rate is not factored in determining the GNIper capita ,the ranking may not necessarily reflect the actual living conditions and standards of living of the countries considered in your ranking.
Thanks you very much for valuable information.
It is a kind of big help as Lower Middle class thanks for this program 👍
I am proud that Mauritius has attained the status of HIC but with the bleak performance as a result of COVID-19, will Mauritius retain this position in 2021?
Thanks Nadia and Umar for this report . I hope India will become a high income countries in future . not only in incomes but also a better performance of the India in HDI report.
Pakistan is eligible for this project?
It's very important information for every citizen of the country to be known
Am proud of my country Tanzania the way its economy grows fast.
Though we need more clarifications economy growth vs personal income
It is really good news for nepal.
Thank you for the report, Umar and Nada. As an Indonesian, I am very happy with the news coming from my country and wish the development in Indonesia keep on improving in all sectors 🙏🏼
Great Work!
I wanted to ask about the previous ranking reports, where can I get for 1995? kindly guide.
Thanks for this information, Where does Uganda fall as I have not seen it on the list, thanks
Sri Lanka was upper middle income country but now in lower middle income country. what policy changes will need gain high economic growth