World Bank - Seychelles preserves high-income economy status |16 July 2019

With a Gross National Income per capita more than US $12,376, Seychelles remains the only Sub-Saharan African country classified at the moment as high-income economy, four years after graduating to high-income country status.

The World Bank released the ranking yesterday, proving that the Seychelles’ economy is still doing well, contrary to what many people have been saying.

All 189 World Bank member countries, plus 28 other economies with populations of more than 30,000 are classified in the World Development Indicators database, so that data users can aggregate, group, and compare statistical data of interest, and for the presentation of key statistics.

The World Bank defines a high-income economy as a country with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of US $12,376 or more in one year and this is calculated using the Atlas method.

For the current 2020 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of US $1,025 or less in 2018; lower middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between US $1,026 and US $3,995; upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between US $3,996 and US $12,375; high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of US $12,376 or more.

The GNI per capita is the dollar value of a country's final income in a year, divided by its population. It will reflect the average before tax income of a country's citizens.

It is calculated from gross domestic products (GDP): GNI = GDP + [(income from citizens and businesses earned abroad) – (income remitted by foreigners living in the country back to their home countries)].

According to reports, using a country’s GNI per capita is a good way to understand the country’s economic strengths and needs, and at the same time the general standard of living enjoyed by the average citizen. These same reports add that a country’s GNI per capita tends to be closely linked with other indicators that measure the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the country and its people. For example, generally people living in countries with higher GNI per capita tend to have longer life expectancies, higher literacy rates, better access to safe water, and lower infant mortality rates.

The classification is updated each year on July 1.

The 80 countries ranked as high-income economy are Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Palau, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Aruba, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey Jersey Channel Islands, Curaçao, Faroe Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guam, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Macao, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin Saint Maarten, Taiwan, Turks and Caicos Islands, and US Virgin Islands.