The Philippines achieves Upper Middle Income Country (UMIC) status after five decades

 

Did you know the economy classification upgrades of the Philippines occurred during the two Marcos Administrations? In 1975, the Philippines achieved lower middle income status with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of USD 430, officially graduating from low income status which at the time was pegged at the GNI per capita ceiling of USD 288. Since the World Bank Group was formed in 1944, it took the Philippines roughly three decades to reach this new economic status. Notably, the Philippines doubled its GNI per capita within ten years (from USD 200 in the year 1965).

During the 1980s, the Philippines went near the threshold to become classified as upper middle income. In 1980, the Filipino GNI per capita stood at USD 780, while the upper middle income threshold was USD 818. Two years later, by 1982, the gap slightly narrowed. Filipino GNI per capita grew to USD 830, while the upper middle income threshold became USD 856. However, when the Philippines seemed to be faring well in the midst of the brewing international debt crisis at the time (the Philippine economy grew by 3.6 percent in 1982, compared to the global average growth rate of 0.4 percent during the same year), growing political opposition and other prevailing factors affected the chances of the Philippines in breaking through the upper middle income threshold. By 1985, the GNI per capita of the Philippines sunk to USD 580, its lowest level since 1978. The Philippines recovered its 1982 GNI per capita level only by the year 1992. However, the threshold has since increased significantly that the Philippines did not recover its momentum towards obtaining its UMIC status.

In 2026, the Philippines achieved upper middle income status with a GNI per capita of USD 4,850, above the lower middle income ceiling of USD 4,636. It took the Philippines five decades to move up in this economic classification scale. The Philippines recovered its pre-pandemic GNI per capita level in 2022, and has since averaged 5.8 percent economic growth rate in the past five years, reflecting gains in no single sector, but across all economic sectors, in the midst of a global economic slowdown, according to the World Bank report on its latest release of Country Income Classifications. Among the upper middle income economies in the region include Malaysia (achieved UMIC status in 1992), PR China (2010), Thailand (2010), Indonesia (2019), and Vietnam (2026)

Also according to the World Bank, the Country Income Classifications’ methodology is rigorous. Each round, the latest data available is used to ensure categorizations reflect the most accurate picture, but no single measure can fully capture the complexity of a country's development.