Vietnam upgraded to upper-middle-income economy by World Bank
VOV.VN - Vietnam has been reclassified as an upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank after its gross national income (GNI) per capita rose above the institution's income threshold, marking an important milestone in the country’s long-term economic development.
According to the World Bank's latest income classification, Vietnam’s GNI per capita reached US$4,970 in 2025, up from US$4,490 in 2024.
The increase lifted Vietnam above the upper threshold for lower-middle-income economies, which ranges from US$1,176 to US$4,635, placing the country in the upper-middle-income category, defined as economies with GNI per capita between US$4,636 and US$14,375.
The World Bank attributed Vietnam’s upgrade primarily to strong economic growth and robust export performance over the past two years.
Between 2024 and 2025, Vietnam’s exports expanded by more than 15%, while GDP growth reached approximately 7% in 2024 and 8% in 2025. Over the 2021–2025 period, the country's GNI increased by an average of around 10% annually, one of the strongest sustained growth rates in the region, reflecting the economy's resilience and expanding production and trade capacity.
The World Bank assessed a total of 218 economies in this year’s classification, with six countries moving into higher income categories.
Besides Vietnam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Jordan and Micronesia were upgraded from lower-middle-income to upper-middle-income status, while Togo advanced from the low-income group to the lower-middle-income category.
The World Bank updates its income classifications annually based on the previous year's GNI per capita, dividing economies into four categories: low income, lower-middle income, upper-middle income and high income. The thresholds are adjusted each year to reflect global inflation.
The classification serves as an important benchmark for assessing economic development and is widely used to determine eligibility for concessional financing and development assistance, while also tracking long-term global growth trends.
Vietnam’s upgrade comes as the country pursues its long-term development strategy of becoming a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle-income status by 2030, before transitioning into a high-income developed economy by 2045.
To achieve that goal, Vietnam aims to maintain rapid economic growth in the coming years, with an ambition of sustaining annual growth of 10% or higher.
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