How does GFDx classify countries and territories?

As of January 2025, GFDx includes 196 states in its database, criteria being: full members of the United Nations (UN) (193), permanent UN observer states (2, Vatican City and State of Palestine), and states recognized by at least 50% of other UN full member states (1, Republic of Kosovo). We do not include territories (non-self-governing states) in GFDx as they are unlikely to have separate legislation and given complications with disaggregating data from their administrative countries. We take country names and their spellings from the UN member states listings.

How are countries classified into geographic regions?

We used the United Nations classification for geographical regions (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) to classify countries by geographical region.

How are countries classified by income status?

We use the World Bank income classification (low income, lower middle income, upper middle income, high income) to classify countries by income status. This classification can change and is updated on the GFDx website annually.