Get ready for a wild ride around the globe! 🌍 Let's talk about countries, their income, and their development levels.

Countries are classified based on their per capita annual income:

• High-income countries (HICs) or "developed", "more developed", or "advanced" countries are those with a per capita annual income over $12,735. Imagine it's like everyone in the country has a luxury car... sort of. Examples? Norway with its majestic fjords and high living standards.
• Middle-income countries (MICs) have a per capita income between $1,026 and $12,475. This category has two subcategories: lower middle-income ($1,026–$4,035) and upper middle-income ($4,036–$12,475). It's like the middle child, not too rich, not too poor. Think of Argentina - it moved from upper MIC to HIC category due to economic growth.
• Low-income countries (LICs) have a per capita income of less than $1,025. These are countries whose economies are like a toddler, still learning to walk. An example would be Malawi, with a slow-rising GNI.

As of 2014, 5 billion people live in MICs, and about a third of global GDP is produced here. It's like the world's middle class is producing one-third of everything!

In the same year, there were only 30 LICs with just over 600 million people, a decrease of 80% from 1994. This means progress! Even countries like India and Kenya climbed up to become lower MICs.