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A 'High income country' is defined by the World Bank as a country with a Gross National Income per capita of $11,116 or more.^[1] While the term "high income" may be used interchangeably with "First World" and "developed country," the technical definitions of these terms differ. The term "first world" commonly refers to those prosperous countries that aligned themselves with the U.S. and NATO during the cold war. Several institutions, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or International Monetary Fund (IMF), take factors other than high per capita income into account when classifying countries as "developed" or "advanced economies." According to the United Nations, for example, some high income countries may also be developing countries. The GCC (Persian Gulf States) countries, for example, are classified as developing high income countries. Thus, a high income country may be classified as either developed or developing.^[2]

Contents

List of high income countries

References

See also

List of high income countries

According to the World Bank the following 60 countires were classified as "high income:"^[1]

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•	• (China)	•
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• Channel Islands (U.K.)	•	•
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•	•	• Virgin Islands (U.S.)

Not classified by World Bank (due to not being UN members):


★ Taiwan (Republic of China)

★ Vatican City (Holy See)

References

1. World Bank. (2007). Data & Statistics: Country Groups
2. UN. (2005). UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics.
3. World Bank. (2007). Data & Statistics: Country Groups

See also

★ Developed country

★ First World