Inflation-adjusted World Bank figures show that of 64 ‘low-income’ nations in 1994, 33 moved to a higher income bracket by 2014 through economic growth

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Fewer countries than ever are in the world’s lowest income bracket but rising wealth inequality means that Monaco has about 400 times more cash to spend on each citizen than Malawi does, World Bank data shows.

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The percentage of people living in countries defined as “low-income” has tumbled by 80% over the past two decades, according to the data. (The World Bank updates its income thresholds annually, with an adjustment for inflation.) In 1994, there were 3.1 billion people living in 64 low-income nations, but in 2014 there were 613 million people in 31 of the world’s poorest countries.

Sustained economic growth over the past year has catapulted Bangladesh, Burma, Kenya and Tajikistan out of low-income status, which is defined as countries with a gross national income per capita (GNI) of $1,045 or less.



These countries have become middle-income economies, which are those with an GNI per capita of between $1,046 and $12,736. High-income economies are those that yield more than $12,736 GNI per capita a year.

Nearly every low-income country is now in sub-Saharan Africa, with just Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti and Nepal ranking in the poorest category from outside Africa.

Malawi has raised its GNI per capita by just $70 over the past 20 years to $250 per person. In contrast, Norway has seen its per capita GNI soar from $26,010 to $103,050 over the same period.

While official GNI estimates for Monaco were not available, the World Bank said it was safely at the top of the rankings, largely because of its tiny population of just 37,831 people. Liechtenstein, with 36,925 people, ranked second-highest in GNI.

The World Bank said Vietnam was one of the best-performing developing economies over the 20-year period, as its economy surged from a GNI of just $130 in 1990 to $1,890 this year.

Argentina, Hungary, Seychelles and Venezuela moved from the upper-middle income category to high-income, the data showed.

GNI per capita is calculated by dividing a country’s gross national income by its mid-year population. Income-based measures are “the central yardstick for assessing economic performance”, according to Kaushik Basu, senior vice president at the World Bank.

Data collection problems meant that poor countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia could not be included in the list.