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World Bank high-income economy

Summary
A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with a gross national income per capita of US13,845ormorein2022,calculatedusingtheAtlasmethod.Whiletheterm"high−income"isoftenusedinterchangeablywith"FirstWorld"and"developedcountry,"thetechnicaldefinitionsofthesetermsdiffer.Theterm"firstworld"commonlyreferstocountriesthatalignedthemselveswiththeU.S.andNATOduringtheColdWar.Severalinstitutions,suchastheCentralIntelligenceAgency(CIA)orInternationalMonetaryFund(IMF),takefactorsotherthanhighpercapitaincomeintoaccountwhenclassifyingcountriesas"developed"or"advancedeconomies."AccordingtotheUnitedNations,forexample,somehigh−incomecountriesmayalsobedevelopingcountries.TheGCCcountries,forexample,areclassifiedasdevelopinghigh−incomecountries.Thus,ahigh−incomecountrymaybeclassifiedaseitherdevelopedordeveloping.AlthoughVaticanCityisasovereignstate,itisnotclassifiedbytheWorldBankunderthisdefinition.AccordingtotheWorldBankthefollowing83countries(includingterritories)areclassifiedas"high−incomeeconomies."Inbracketsaretheyear(s)duringwhichtheyheldsuchclassification;classifyingbeganin1987.Asofthe2024fiscalyear,high−incomeeconomiesarethosethathadaGNIpercapitaof13,845 or more in 2022, calculated using the Atlas method. 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. Although Vatican City is a sovereign state, it is not classified by the World Bank under this definition. According to the World Bank the following 83 countries (including territories) are classified as "high-income economies." In brackets are the year(s) during which they held such classification; classifying began in 1987. As of the 2024 fiscal year, high-income economies are those that had a GNI per capita of 13,845 or more in 2022.
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