Country Groupings of World Economies

Brief review of current and past classification of world economies:

World Bank Classifications of Economies

WB Classification is based on Geo-political, Income & Indebtness basis:   

Income Classification

(using GNI per capita)

1.      Low income

2. Middle Income:
• Lower middle
• Upper Middle
3. High Income
• non-OECD 
• OECD
• European Monetary Union (EMU)

 

Regional Classification
(on Geo-political basis)

1. East Asia & Pacific.
2. Europe & Central Asia.
3. Latin America and the Caribbean.
4. Middle East North Africa, (MENA)
5. South Asia.
6. Sub-Saharan Africa.

Indebtness Classification

(based on present value of Debt Service to GNI or to Exports)

1. Severely Indebted
2. Moderately Indebted
3. Less Indebted
4. Not classified by debt

Other classifications of the WB

1. Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
2. Least Developed Countries (UN classification)

 

Link for World Bank classification: [click here].

Download WB Classification of Economies in .

IMF MULTIMOD Country Classification 

Previous country specific Classification

US,

RG7,

ROECD,

DOEC (Developing Oil Exporting Countries),

RDTP (Rest of Developing trading Partners). 

GVAR Country Grouping Classification 

The Economies are grouped into “Regions” or “Groups” on the basis of: 

[1]            Size of the Economy.

[2]            Openness of the Economy’s International Trade.

[3]            Contemporaneous Nature of the Direction of International Trade.

[4]            Its function in the global economy (e.g. major oil exporter). 

[5]            History of contagion of economic crisis.

[6]            Geographic and geo-political factors. 

[7]            Global distribution of Population density.

[8]            Institutional factors.

 

On the above factors, the proposed GVAR model consists of the following 9 categories:

§         US: Central Economy of the system, the reference economy

§         EMU: European Monetary Union [Euro Area].

§         RG7: Canada, Japan, and UK.

§         ROECD: Rest of the OECD.

§         Large non-oil Developing Economies [China, India, Brazil & Russia].

§         DOEC (Developing Oil Exporting Economies): OPEC countries, major non-OPEC oil exporters including developed countries oil exporters (e.g.: Norway).
Subgroups include:

§      OPEC countries:

§         The Gulf Cooperation Council GCC countries.

§      Major non-OPEC oil exporters

§     Developed countries oil exporters (e.g.: Norway)    

§         Transition Economies: ex USSR and ex Yugoslavian Union countries 

§         Emerging Markets (Asian tigers). 

§         Marginalised Economies; rest of developing world.

 

 

 

All about the Gs: see the guide on Committees, Groups and Clubs @ the IMF website:

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/groups.htm