Diverse Structures and Characteristics of developing countriesThe World Bank’s main criterion for classifying economies is gross national income (GNI) per capita. In previous editions of World bank publications, this term was areferred to as gross national product, or GNP. Based on its GNI per capita, every economy is classified as low income, middle income (subdivided into lower middle and upper middle), or high income.
Other analytical groups based on geographic regions are also used.