What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different different countries?

Question

What are the limitations of this criterion, if any?

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Answer 1

Their main economic classification is based on Gross National Income per capita (per person).  Countries are divided into low income, middle income (which is divided itself into lower and upper groups), and high income.  The website gives a lot more info about operational, analytical, and historical classifications.

...just realized I left out the "limitations" part of your question.  There are a lot of possible limitations of any criteria used for classification purposes.  For any problem as complicated as classifying countries, there will always be situations where the straight numbers are not enough to give the whole picture.  For example, what if the average income of a person in a country is $3,000, but that's only because there's a huge wage gap (i.e. a small group of people make millions of dollars, but most people only make $500 a year)?  The World Bank certainly works to take this kind of thing into account, but I suggest taking a closer look at their website if you need more specifics.

Oh, and my example above fits under "income inequality".  And "resource mobilization" refers to how easy it is for a country to actually use their resources.  These are both issues the World Bank considers when deciding whether a country gets help.  And they are limitations to strict numerical cutoffs.

Answer 2

Income inequalities and recource mobilization.