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By Justine Irish D. Tabile<\/strong>, Senior Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n The Philippines is now classified as an upper-middle income country (UMIC) by the World Bank, reflecting the economy\u2019s broad-based expansion.<\/p>\n The World Bank\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The most recent increase within the Philippines\u2019 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d the World Bank said in a blog post late Wednesday.<\/p>\n The Philippines was previously within the World Bank\u2019s lower middle-income bracket, having did not advance out of it since 1987.<\/p>\n The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said strong performance across all industries helped raise the country\u2019s GNI per capita by 8.5% in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThis confirms the resilience of the Philippine economy,\u201d said DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan. \u201cDespite global and domestic shocks, we have now relentlessly pursued inclusive growth, strengthened fundamentals, and remained on course with our development agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to DEPDev, the brand new classification is anticipated to strengthen the country\u2019s credit profile, boost investor confidence, and expand access to financing and higher-quality investments, which it said could generate higher jobs for Filipinos.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Vietnam moved as much as UMIC status after posting a GNI per capita of $4,970.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Malaysia ($12,380), Thailand ($7,690) and Indonesia ($5,120) remained as upper middle-income countries.<\/p>\n Singapore ($81,760) and Brunei ($34,790) are also still classified as high-income economies.<\/p>\n The World Bank computes a rustic\u2019s GNI through the Atlas method, which serves as the premise of its income classifications \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Motorists go through Delpan Bridge in Manila, June 29. Photo by RYAN BALDEMOR, THE PHILIPPINE STAR 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\u2019s broad-based expansion. The World Bank\u2019s latest country income classification showed the Philippines posted a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":359650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3239,4452,6821,2364,53422,813],"class_list":["post-359649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bank","tag-country","tag-income","tag-philippines","tag-uppermiddle","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t