Developed country

Coloured world map indicating Human Development Index (as of 2003). Countries coloured darker shades of green exhibit very high human development and are generally reckoned as developed countries.

A developed country is one that has a high income per capita. Countries with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) are generally considered developed countries. This usually coincides with countries that have a high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita; however, some countries have achieved a (usually temporarily) high GDP through natural resource exploitation (e.g., Nauru through phosphate extraction and Equatorial Guinea) without developing the diverse industrial and service-based economy necessary for "developed" status.

Synonyms include industrialised countries, more economically developed countries (MEDC) and the First World. Other terms sometimes used to describe the developed/developing country dichotomy are First World/Third World (the term Second World refers to communist states during and since the Cold War); North/South; and industrialised countries/non-industrialised countries. The term Western countries has a similar meaning, but its connotations restrict its usage, especially in Asia Pacific.

Different observers and theorists often see different reasons for why certain countries (and not others) enjoy a high level of economic development. Many argue that economic development requires some combination of representative government (or democracy), a free market economic model, and a general lack of corruption. Some hold that rich countries grew wealthy by exploitation of poorer countries in the past, through imperialism and colonialism, or in the present, through the process of globalization.

According to the United Nations Statistics Division:

In the United Nations system there is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas. In common practice, Japan in Asia, Canada and the United States in North America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and Europe are considered "developed" regions or areas. In international trade statistics, the Southern African Customs Union is also treated as a developed region and Israel as a developed country; and countries of eastern Europe and the former U.S.S.R. countries in Europe are not included under either developed or developing regions.

The UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges a country's level of human development. Countries with an HDI of 0.8 or more — largely corresponding to what the conventional definition of being a 'developed' country is — exhibit high development, and those with an HDI between 0.5 and 0.8 (including many of the former Soviet and Eastern Bloc states) exhibit moderate development. All countries listed here as "developed" posses an HDI over 0.9.

Developed countries

Organizations such as the World Bank,the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA), generally agree that the group of developed countries include:

The following European Union member states:

Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France

Germany Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg

Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden United Kingdom

The following non-EU European states:

Andorra Iceland Liechtenstein

Monaco Norway San Marino

Switzerland Vatican City

The following non-European states:

Australia Canada Israel

Japan New Zealand Singapore

South Korea Taiwan United States

Other cases

• Hong Kong and Macau are considered developed by most organizations; however, they are Special Administrative Regions belonging to the People's Republic of China(PRC), which is a developing country.

• Slovenia is often considered a developed country, being classified as a high-income economy and net donor by the World Bank, and having a HDI higher than 0.9, ranked 26th in the world. It is not, however, classified to be an "advanced economy" by the IMF.

• Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, is classified as an "Advanced Economy" by the IMF and a high-income economy by the World Bank. Its HDI is, however, slightly lower than 0.9, calculated at 0.891 (ranked 29th in the world).

• Some organizations consider the remaining countries of the European Union — those which joined the body in 2004, especially the Czech Republic and Malta — among the developed countries, but these mostly former-Communist countries are rather newly industrialised nations and some of them (such as Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) remain significantly less affluent than EU-15 countries. All European Union members, however, have a GDP per capita greater than the global average and high human development according to the HDI.

• Mexico, while a part of NAFTA and a member of the OECD, remains much poorer than its northern neighbors. For this reason some authors consider Mexico a developing country rather than a developed one, though most properly Mexico lies between these two extremes as a NIC, with its HDI above 0.8 superior to that of Turkey, Russia and South Africa and possessing a booming upper middle-income economy.

• Russia is also considered developed by some and belongs to the G8. This was mainly due to the fact it was once one of the world's leading superpowers, but it has recently faced many troubles such as rampant corruption. Like Turkey and South Africa their GDP per capita clearly places them among the developing countries and should not be considered developed.

• South Africa and Turkey are considered developed by some sources; however their GDP per capita (both have upper middle-income economies) and HDI ranking, clearly places them among the developing countries.

• Despite their high per capita GDP, Brunei and the Middle Eastern countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are generally not considered developed countries because their economies depend overwhelmingly on oil production and export. Some of these countries, especially Bahrain, have begun to diversify their economies and republicanize. Similarly, the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Saint Kitts and Nevis enjoy a high per capita GDP, but these economies depend overwhelmingly on the tourist industry.

References

• World Bank
• The World Factbook
• United Nations Statistics Division (definition)
• United Nations Statistics Division (developed regions)
• IMF

See also

• List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita
• List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
• UN Human Development Index
• Developing country
• Newly industrialized country
• Decolonisation
• Economic development
• Sustainable development
• Industrialisation
• G8
• World Bank