Philippines now an upper-middle income country, World Bank says

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 year, when the Philippines narrowly missed the UMIC threshold by $26.

The latest increase in the Philippines’ GNI per capita prompted the World Bank to reclassify the country as an UMIC, a category for economies with GNI per capita ranging from $4,636 to $14,375.

“The Philippines achieved its reclassification through broad-based expansion. GDP grew at an average of 5.8% per year 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 in the World Bank’s lower middle-income bracket, having failed to 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 relentlessly pursued inclusive growth, strengthened fundamentals, and remained on track with our development agenda.”

According to DEPDev, the new classification is expected to strengthen the country’s credit profile, boost investor confidence, and expand access to financing and higher-quality investments, which it said could generate better jobs for Filipinos.

The Philippines and Vietnam were among the five economies reclassified by the World Bank from lower middle-income to upper middle-income status, along with Jordan, Micronesia, and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Togo moved from low-income to lower middle-income status.

Vietnam moved up to 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), which 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 country’s GNI through the Atlas method, which serves as the basis of its income classifications — low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high. GNI refers to the total amount of money earned by its residents both inside and outside its borders.