New York: Europe and the Arabs
More than 100 countries - including China, India, Brazil and South Africa - face serious obstacles that could hinder their efforts to transform into high-income countries in the next few decades, according to a new World Bank study that provides the first comprehensive roadmap to enable developing countries to escape the so-called "middle-income trap." According to the United Nations daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received this Friday morning.
Based on lessons learned over the past 50 years, the "World Development Report 2024" indicates that as countries become richer, economic growth rates slow or stop when per capita income reaches 10 percent of the United States' annual per capita GDP - equivalent to $8,000 today, and here these countries fall into the trap of "stagnant" economic growth rates.
This figure comes in the middle of the World Bank's classification of "middle-income" countries; Since 1990, only 34 middle-income economies have made the transition to high-income status – more than a third of which benefited either from EU accession or from newly discovered oil reserves.

At the end of 2023, 108 countries were classified as middle-income, with annual GDP per capita ranging from $1,136 to $13,845. These countries have a population of 6 billion people – about 75 percent of the world’s population, two out of three of whom live in extreme poverty, and they produce more than 40 percent of global GDP and more than 60 percent of carbon emissions.

The World Bank said these countries face much greater challenges than their predecessors in escaping the middle-income trap, including rapidly aging populations, rising protectionism in advanced economies, and the need to accelerate the energy transition.
“Middle-income countries will be where the battle for global economic prosperity will be won or lost,” said Indermit Gill, World Bank Group Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “However, many of these countries are relying on outdated strategies to catch up with advanced economies. They have relied on investment for too long—or they have embraced innovation without adequate preparation. A new approach is needed: focusing first on investment; then harnessing new technologies from abroad; and finally adopting a three-pronged strategy that balances investment, technology, and innovation. As demographic, ecological, and geopolitical pressures mount, there is no room for error.”