MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has officially been classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank, marking a historic economic milestone after nearly four decades in the lower middle-income category.
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| Traffic in Metro Manila. Photo courtesy: PNA |
In its latest country income classification released on Wednesday, the World Bank upgraded the Philippines after its gross national income (GNI) per capita reached a record $4,850 in 2025, surpassing the $4,636 threshold required for upper-middle income economies.
The latest GNI per capita also improved from $4,470 recorded a year earlier, when the country narrowly missed qualifying for the higher income bracket by just $26.
"The Philippines achieved its reclassification through broad-based expansion," the World Bank said, noting that the country's economy grew by an average of 5.8 percent annually over the past five years, with gains recorded across all major industries rather than from a single sector.
The Philippines had remained in the World Bank's lower middle-income classification since 1987, making this year's upgrade a significant milestone in the country's long-term economic development.
The World Bank classifies economies with a GNI per capita ranging from $4,636 to $14,375 as upper-middle income, while countries with incomes above that level are categorized as high-income economies.
Among Southeast Asian nations, the Philippines now joins Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia in the upper-middle income group, while Singapore and Brunei remain high-income economies, and Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar continue to belong to the lower middle-income category.
Finance Secretary Frederick Go welcomed the country's reclassification, saying it reflects the impact of the government's reforms and policies aimed at strengthening the economy and creating more opportunities for Filipinos.
The World Bank updates its income classifications every July 1 using GNI per capita estimates based on the Atlas method, which smooths short-term exchange rate fluctuations and adjusts annual thresholds for inflation, with this year's assessment covering 218 economies and serving as the global benchmark until the end of June 2027.
— The Summit Express
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