The number of low-income countries has halved in 40 years, according to the World Bank

Uncertainty may be the watchword for the global economy today but the past 40 years have been a period of increasing wealth and living standards around the world. Data from the World Bank shows that the number of low-income countries has halved since 1987, while the number of countries classified as high-income has more than doubled. More than half of the respondents surveyed for the World Economic Forum's latest Chief Economists' Outlook expect greater divergence between the growth of developing economies and their wealthier peers in the next few years, amid a backdrop of political instability, weakened institutions, and blunted global integration.