Income gap

After the World Bank announced that the Philippines had finally progressed from a lower-middle-income to an upper-middle-income country, a common remark was, "I'm not upper-middle income."

- ALYSON KIEDA

The status was attained after Gross National Income per capita in 2025 hit $4,850. This was within the GNI range of $4,636 to $14,375 for upper-middle income classification set by the World Bank.

GNI is based on gross domestic product together with remittances of overseas Filipinos, minus income earned by foreigners and multinational companies that are sent out of the country. The total, divided by the national population, is the GNI per capita and the basis for the World Bank's income classifications.