World Bank high-income economy

A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with a gross national income per capita of US$13,845 or more in 2022, calculated using the Atlas method.[1] While the term "high-income" is often used interchangeably with "First World" and "developed country," the technical definitions of these terms differ. The term "first world" commonly refers to countries that aligned themselves with the U.S. and NATO during the Cold War. Several institutions, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or International Monetary Fund (IMF), take factors other than high per capita income into account when classifying countries as "developed" or "advanced economies." According to the United Nations, for example, some high-income countries may also be developing countries. The GCC countries, for example, are classified as developing high-income countries. Thus, a high-income country may be classified as either developed or developing.[2] Although Vatican City is a sovereign state, it is not classified by the World Bank under this definition.

A map of World Bank high-income economies in 2019; high-income economies are indicated in blue, while former high-income economies are shown in teal.
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference wb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "UN. (2005). UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-09.