World Bank income groups
- Description
Income classification based on the country's income each year.
- Data source
- World Bank (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
- Date range
- 1987-2025
- Last updated
- 2026-07-01
- Next expected update
- 2027-07-01
- Managed by
- Pablo Arriagada
- The World Bank creates a yearly classification of countries by income for all countries with a population over 30,000.
- This classification stays the same throughout the World Bank's fiscal year (from July 1 to June 30) even if the income data for a country changes.
- Low-income countries are those with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $1,175 or less in 2025.
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- Lower-middle-income countries are those with a GNI per capita between $1,176 and $4,635 in 2025.
- Upper-middle-income countries are those with a GNI per capita between $4,636 and $14,375 in 2025.
- High-income countries are those with a GNI per capita of more than $14,375 in 2025.
- When the World Bank lacks recent income data for a country, it can leave that country temporarily unclassified. Venezuela had no classification from 2021 to 2024, and Ethiopia had none in 2024.
Frequently asked questions
How did Our World in Data process this data?
How did Our World in Data process this data?
All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.
At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.
Documentation from data sources
World Bank
World Bank
For the current 2027 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $1,175 or less in 2025; lower middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $1,176 and $4,635; upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $4,636 and $14,375; high-income economies are those with more than a GNI per capita of $14,375.
Please note: Regions in this table include economies at all income levels. 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. Click here for information about how the World Bank classifies countries.
Data sources
World Bank – Income Classifications
World Bank – Income Classifications
Every year, the World Bank Group classifies the world’s economies into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high. These classifications, updated each year on July 1, are based on the previous year’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, expressed in U.S. dollars using the Atlas method.
World Bank (2026). World Bank Country and Lending Groups.How to cite
How to cite this page
How to cite this page
To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:
“Data Page: World Bank income groups”, part of the following publication: Max Roser, Bertha Rohenkohl, Pablo Arriagada, Joe Hasell, Hannah Ritchie, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2023) - “Economic Growth”. Data adapted from World Bank. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261102-112946/grapher/world-bank-income-groups.html [online resource] (archived on November 2, 2026).How to cite this data
How to cite this data
If you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:
World Bank (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in DataFull citation
World Bank (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “World Bank income groups – World Bank” [dataset]. World Bank, “Income Classifications” [original data]. Retrieved November 2, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261102-112946/grapher/world-bank-income-groups.html (archived on November 2, 2026).All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately. This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
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