World Bank transfers Ukraine to category of countries with higher than average incomes

The World Bank moved Ukraine from the category of countries with a lower than average incomes level to the category with higher than average incomes in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

This is stated in the blog of the World Bank, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

If in 2022, Ukraine had an income per capita at the level of USD 4,270, then in 2023 this amount makes USD 5,070.

Ukraine's upward classification was the result of a resumption of economic growth in 2023 (real GDP up 5.3% after a 28.8% drop in 2022) along with continued population decline, which has decreased by more than 15% since the russian invasion began.

These factors were further exacerbated by rising prices of domestically produced goods and services, which led to a significant increase in nominal gross national income per capita by 18.5%.

Despite the fact that the Ukrainian economy was significantly affected by the russian invasion, its real growth in 2023 was driven by construction activity (24.6%), reflecting a significant increase in investment spending (52.9%), which supports Ukraine's recovery efforts after ongoing destruction.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the World Bank divides world economies into four income groups: low, lower than average, higher than average and high.

The classifications are updated annually on July 1 based on gross national income (GNI) per capita for the previous calendar year.

The World Bank's income classification aims to reflect a country's level of development, relying on GNI per capita as a publicly available indicator of economic capacity.