NEW DELHI: Middle-income countries like India need to make policies based on reliable data to get into the league of high-income nations in the next 3-4 decades as achieving sustainable growth will become harder, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill said.

Addressing an event here, Gill said, that to grow into higher-income countries, MCIs (Middle-Income Countries) will have to reduce deficits in their mid-sized firms. “(Going forward) economic growth will get harder for middle-income countries like India, not easier... If you (middle-income countries like India) want to get into high-income country in the next 3-4 decades then you will have to make policies based on reliable information,” he said.

Gill pointed out that relatively few countries (31) have grown into high-income countries between 1990 and 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of making India a developed nation by 2047.

According to the World Bank, the world’s middle-income countries (MICs) are a diverse group by size, population, and income level.

They are defined as lower-middle-income economies -- those with a GNI (Gross National Income) per capita between $1,036 and $4,045; and upper-middle-income economies — those with a GNI per capita between $4,046 and $12,535. Middle-income countries are home to 75 per cent of the world’s population and 62 per cent of the world’s poor. At the same time, MICs represent about one-third of global GDP and are major engines of global growth.

Countries with annual per capita income of over $12,000 are defined as high-income economies.