
When budgeting for ad campaigns for international businesses, advertisers tend to prioritize their spending to Tier 1 & Tier 2 countries, even if Cost Per Click (CPC) is higher there.
These countries are the most valuable to these advertisers due to their high purchasing power, and similar characteristics.
By advertising to high-tier countries, you are paying more per click but expect to also earn more back.
What are Country Tiers in Advertising?
Country tiers are a way to group countries by their economic power. The most important metric in this case is GDP per capita (per person).
Geographical locations with higher GDP per capita have higher buying power, which means they can pay more for products and services.
Higher tier countries’ citizens have higher salaries and more disposable income. Lower-tier countries are still developing economies and have less disposable income.
By advertising to higher-tier countries, you can get higher conversion rates and better ROI for your ads.
Advertising Country Tier List
While different ad networks have their own lists of countries, and country tiers may change due to changing economic circumstances.
If you are running ads in Adwords, you can simply copy & paste each category to your campaigns to quickly create tired ad campaigns. It can act as your tier list template.

The below table lists Tier 1,2, and 3 countries in alphabetical order:
Tier 1 Countries
Wealthiest countries, where the citizens have higher salaries and more disposable income. CPC in these countries is the most expensive, but expected returns are also the highest.
Tier 1 countries include all english-speaking countries and advanced economies.
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States of America
Tier 2 Countries
Good economies with average salaries and disposable incomes. Tier 2 countries are less desirable than Tier 1 but come with lower CPC & CPA costs.
Andorra
Argentina
Bahamas
Belarus
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Fiji
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Israel
Japan
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Macao
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
Montenegro
Morocco
Nepal
Oman
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Republic of Korea (South)
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Tier 3 Countries
Developing economies with citizens that have limited or no disposable income are tier 3 countries. These are countries usually avoided by international advertisers. While the costs to advertise to these countries are low, conversion rates are abysmal.
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Chad
Comoros
Congo
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Gabon
Georgia
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
India
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Lesotho
Macedonia
Madagascar
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Moldova
Mongolia
Mozambique
Namibia
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Senegal
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Zambia
Which Country Tier Should You Choose?
For Advertisers
Advertisers prefer to start their campaigns with Tier 1 countries as they all speak English as a first or second language.
This tactic allows for less campaign management and fewer variations.
As your spending budget grows, you will want to expand to Tier 2 countries where you may need to work on localization per different geo-location.
For Publishers
For publishers such as bloggers, website owners, etc. who operate ad-supported websites, targeting Tier 1 countries in their niche is the ideal scenario.
However, Tier 1 countries are much more competitive, and you might want to consider Tier 2 countries if you speak the language.