Spain ranks 27th in the ranking of the highest-income countries

The World Bank published “The Ranking” updated of countries by income level. The data, which corresponds to 2021, reflects a Economic recovery compared to 2020The year the pandemic began.

Many countries in which GNI per capita (total income of the population of the territory) decreased with the arrival of covid realized an increase in this indicator in 2021. Among them is Spain, which ranks 27th out of 173 countries for which the World Bank has data for 2021.

Countries regain their income levels in the ‘ranking’ The World Bank after the beginning of the epidemic

The World Bank analysis distributes the different economies of the world according to the income category of each individual in:

• a little
• medium low
• average height
• High rewards.

I agree with you Data published by this organizationIn 123 of the 173 countries analyzed, per capita GNI decreased in the year the pandemic began, but increased again in 2021. However, only 72 of the 123 countries regained pre-pandemic levels, while The rest of the countries that declined and remained at values ​​​​lower than those that were before Covid.

An example is Spain, which ranks 27th among the places with the largest income. This ranking puts it five places above its position in 2020, although that year the World Bank had data from more countries.

Although the GNI increased in 2021 by 9% compared to 2020, It was still lower than the previous numbers for the epidemic. Specifically, in 2021, this indicator was 28,517.7 euros per capita (according to the dollar exchange rate at the time of writing), while in 2019 it was 29,131.4.

In addition, three countries have lowered Income in 2020 rose again to what it was in 2019. In this way, Belize regains its position as a country with a middle to high income level, while Panama and Romania rise again to the highest category of GNI.

Why do we use GNI to compare countries?

To create this income “ranking” and compare the value of a particular country’s economy, the World Bank uses the Gross National Income (GNI) of each individual. This indicator refers to The sum of all income generated by the population”, explains to Newtral.es Antoni Cunyat, Professor of Economics and Business at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and the University of Valencia.

In this way, it includes labour, capital, and income from land, which is why cosmology considers this measure to be “more favorable” than other variables. Thus, it differs from indicators such as GDP in that it records “the generation of a product within a country, both by its citizens and by foreigners residing there,” according to Javier Collado Muñoz, a professor at the Distance University Funders Studies Center. Madrid (Udema) and Treasury Inspector.

“For example, profits from the Ford plant in Valencia will be counted in GDP, but not in GNI, or Zara profits generated outside of Spain will be counted in GNI, but not in GDP,” Cognat develops. .

Although recognized as a “useful and accessible” indicator linked to other types of variables that measure issues “such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and school attendance,” the World Bank notes in its methodology That GNI has certain limitations. Among them, it is stated that GNI can be underestimated in low-income economies, where part of the activity is more informal and subsistence, or it is an indicator It does not reflect income inequality within each territory.