By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter
The Philippines is now classified as an upper-middle income country (UMIC) by the World Bank, reflecting the economy’s broad-based expansion.
The World Bank’s latest country income classification showed the Philippines posted a record gross national income (GNI) per capita of $4,850. This was higher than the GNI per capita of $4,470 last yr, when the Philippines narrowly missed the UMIC threshold by $26.
The most recent increase within the Philippines’ GNI per capita prompted the World Bank to reclassify the country as an UMIC, a category for economies with GNI per capita starting from $4,636 to $14,375.
“The Philippines achieved its reclassification through broad-based expansion. GDP grew at a median of 5.8% per yr over five years, reflecting gains across all major industries, not a single sector boom, but an economy-wide shift,” the World Bank said in a blog post late Wednesday.
The Philippines was previously within the World Bank’s lower middle-income bracket, having did not advance out of it since 1987.
The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said strong performance across all industries helped raise the country’s GNI per capita by 8.5% in 2025.
“This confirms the resilience of the Philippine economy,” said DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan. “Despite global and domestic shocks, we have now relentlessly pursued inclusive growth, strengthened fundamentals, and remained on course with our development agenda.”
In response to DEPDev, the brand new classification is anticipated to strengthen the country’s credit profile, boost investor confidence, and expand access to financing and higher-quality investments, which it said could generate higher jobs for Filipinos.
The Philippines and Vietnam were among the many five economies reclassified by the World Bank from lower middle-income to upper middle-income status, together with Jordan, Micronesia, and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Togo moved from low-income to lower middle-income status.
Vietnam moved as much as UMIC status after posting a GNI per capita of $4,970.
The Philippines remained ahead of Cambodia ($2,520), Laos ($2,150), and Myanmar ($1,320), that are still classified as lower middle-income economies with a GNI per capita between $1,176 and $4,635.
Meanwhile, Malaysia ($12,380), Thailand ($7,690) and Indonesia ($5,120) remained as upper middle-income countries.
Singapore ($81,760) and Brunei ($34,790) are also still classified as high-income economies.
The World Bank computes a rustic’s GNI through the Atlas method, which serves as the premise of its income classifications — low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high. GNI refers to the whole amount of cash earned by its residents each inside and outdoors its borders.