BD becomes middle-income country

Bangladesh has graduated from ‘lower income country’ to lower middle-income country (LMCI) category. It takes place in the middle of the outgoing calendar year 2015 when the World Bank (WB) unveils a new list of classifications of the countries. The global lender classifies economies based on their annual per capita gross national income (GNI), calculated using Atlas method. The GNI is considered an indicator of average economic wellbeing and measures incomes generated by the citizens of a country from both international and domestic activities. As the country’s per capita GNI in 2014 stood at US$ 1,080, calculated using Atlas method, it was promoted as an LMIC. Three more countries - Kenya, Myanmar and Tajikistan - also graduated to LMIC category along with Bangladesh.  
The country is, however, still classified as a least developed country (LDC) by the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP). LDC classification is based on different criteria. The three main indicators for the criteria are: economic vulnerability, human assets and per capita income. While the country has made much progress in reducing economic vulnerability, it still lags behind human asset index and per capita income. Minimum requirement of per capita income is $ 1,242.
Again, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimation, on the basis of GDP valued Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) or international dollar, Bangladesh is the 35th largest economy of the world.  
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