system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Cuba has a GDP per capita of 9,477 USD yet they are frequently described as a poor country, not upper middle income as their GDP per capita figures would indicate. Are the GDP figures wrong for some reason?

The world bank defines upper middle income countries as those with GNI per capita between $4,046 and $12,535. Thailand is almost always referred to as upper middle income and it's GDP per capita is  only 7,233. So why is it that Cuba is almost always referred to as a poor country? How are the GDP figures for Cuba computed? Is there manipulation of data? Is it harder to compute their actual GDP because of their economic system? Is there anything I'm missing that would indicate that it's actually a poor country and not an upper middle income one?
gpt
>why is it that Cuba is almost always referred to as a poor country?

This is a media/politics question, not an economics question. 

If you look at world bank categorizations(and other similar institutions),  Cuba is generally qualified as varying degrees of middle income (depending on the year).