WORLD BANK / WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT

More than 100 countries—including China, India, Brazil, and South Africa—face serious obstacles that could hinder their efforts to become 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 “middle-income trap." WORLD BANK GROUP

• Video Length: 00:02:52
• Production Date: 31 July 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: WORLD BANK
• Subject Topical: DEVELOPMENT; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• Geographic Subject: UNITED STATES; SENEGAL; BRAZIL; CHINA; MOROCCO
• MAMS Id: 3241934
• Parent Id: 3241934
• Alternate Title: unifeed240731h

Description

STORY: WORLD BANK / WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT
TRT: 02:52
SOURCE: WORLD BANK GROUP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 31 JULY 2024, WASHINGTON DC / FILE

Shotlist

1. Various shots, World Bank Group headquarters in Washington DC
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Somik Lall, Senior Adviser to the World Bank Group Chief Economist, and Director of the 2024 World Development Report:
“The prospect for these middle- income countries is not promising. Over the last 30 years, only 34 middle-income economies have been able to transition from middle-income to high-income. The rest are stuck in a middle-income trap.”
3. Various shots, Senegal harbour
4. Wide shot, Brazil street scene
5. Various shots, urban development, and transport in China
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Somik Lall, Senior Adviser to the World Bank Group Chief Economist, and Director of the 2024 World Development Report:
“For a country to move from middle-income to high-income, it needs to do a ‘3i strategy’. First is to expand ‘investment’ using the ‘1i’, and that's really important. But as the gains from investment start tapering off, an economy needs to move to ‘infusion’, that is, get ideas from the rest of the world and diffuse them to the local economies. And, finally, at some point, when they are ready and have mastered infusion, they go and ‘innovate’ and become global leaders and producers.”
7. Various shots, World Bank Group headquarters in Washington, DC
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Somik Lall, Senior Adviser to the World Bank Group Chief Economist, and Director of the 2024 World Development Report:
“Korea provides an incredible example of a country that move from low-income to middle-income to high-income in a span of 40 years. And this is a country that gradually increased investment, but in the 1970s switched quickly to infusion of ideas, primarily from Japan, and diffused them in the local economy. And, over time, as they reached upper-middle income, they quickly switch to innovation.”
9. Various shots, Morocco, solar panels
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Somik Lall, Senior Adviser to the World Bank Group Chief Economist, and Director of the 2024 World Development Report:
“While the policies we describe in the report are really important to set the pace of economic growth, there are also some people who fall through the cracks. We need to make sure that they are not forgotten, and their skills are upgraded, and the families are provided support in the short-term.”
11. Various shots, Senegal harbour
12. Wide shot, Brazil street scene

Storyline

More than 100 countries—including China, India, Brazil, and South Africa—face serious obstacles that could hinder their efforts to become 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 “middle-income trap.”

Drawing on lessons of the past 50 years, the World Development Report 2024: The Middle Income Trap finds that as countries grow wealthier, they usually hit a “trap” at about 10% of annual U.S. GDP per person—the equivalent of $8,000 today. That’s in the middle of the range of what the World Bank classifies as “middle-income” countries.

Since 1990, only 34 middle-income economies have managed to shift to high-income status—and more than a third of them were either beneficiaries of integration into the European Union, or of previously undiscovered oil.

At the end of 2023, 108 countries were classified as middle-income, each with annual GDP per capita in the range of $1,136 to $13,845. These countries are home to six billion people—75% of the global population—and two out of every three people living in extreme poverty. They generate more than 40% of global GDP and more than 60% of carbon emissions. And they face far bigger challenges than their predecessors in escaping the middle-income trap: rapidly aging populations, rising protectionism in advanced economies, and the need to speed up the energy transition.