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 recognized as heavily developed countries.

A developed country is a term used to categorise countries with developed economies, ones in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate. This level of economic development usually translates into a high income per capita, and a high Human Development Index (HDI). Countries with high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita often fit the previous description of a developed economy; however, anomalies exist when determining "developed" status by the factor GDP/cap alone.

Synonyms

Modern terms synonymous with the term developed country include industrialised countries, more developed countries (MDC) and more economically developed countries (MEDC). The term industrialised country may be ambiguous, as industrialisation is an ongoing process that is hard to define. The term MEDC is one used by modern geographers to specifically describe the status of the countries referred to: more economically developed.

Outdated terms that are sometimes still used to describe the developed/developing country dichotomy are First World/Third World (the term Second World refers to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); and North/South. The term Western countries has a similar meaning, but its connotations restrict its usage, especially in Asia Pacific.

Definition

According to the United Nations definition 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 Soviet Union ( U.S.S.R.) countries in Europe are not included under either developed or developing regions. Nowadays this group would presumably also cover the East Asian Tigers in the more comprehensive group of "developed countries".

When using GDP/cap to define "developed" status, one must take into account how some countries have achieved a (usually temporarily) high GDP/cap 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 — similarly, the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis depend overwhelmingly on the tourist industry.

Despite their high per capita GDP, the GCC countries in the Middle East, Brunei and Trinidad and Tobago are generally not considered developed countries because their economies depend overwhelmingly on oil production and export; in many cases (notably Saudi Arabia), per capita GDP is also skewed by an unequal distribution of wealth. Some of these countries, especially Bahrain, and Trinidad and Tobago have begun to diversify their economies.

Reasons for High Level of Economic Development

Main article: Economic development

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. Many 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.

Comprehensive list of Developed Countries and Entities

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 includes the following countries and non-sovereign territories/regions/entities (in alphabetical order):

  Countries qualified as high-income and advanced economies by the WB and IMF

Andorra Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco

Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal San Marino Singapore South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Republic of China (Taiwan) United Kingdom United States Vatican City (Holy See) Bermuda (UK) Faroe Islands (Den.) Hong Kong (PRC)

Other Cases

Main articles: Emerging markets and Newly industrialized countries

Main article: Developing countries

European Union members

Some organizations consider the remaining countries of the European Union — those which joined the body in 2004, especially the Czech Republic and Slovakia — as well as Romania and Bulgaria that will join the EU in 2007; among the developed countries, but these mostly former-USSR 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.

• Cyprus and Malta, EU members since 2004, are classified as "advanced economies" by the IMF and high-income economies by the World Bank. Their HDIs are, however, slightly lower than 0.9, calculated at 0.891 and 0.867, ranked 29th and 32nd in the world.

• Slovenia, another EU member, is classified as a high-income economy and net donor by the World Bank, and has a HDI higher than 0.9, ranked 26th in the world. It is not, however, classified to be an "advanced economy" by the IMF.

Other parts of the world

• Hong Kong and Macau have long been considered developed by most organizations. Although they were taken over by the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is a developing country, they are still considered internationally as separate economic entities (as they have their own currencies) and separate political systems according to the Basic Law of Hong Kong and the Basic Law of Macau. Due to the difference between their economies and that of mainland China , both territories retain their own border and custom controls.

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

• Russia is also considered developed by some organizations and belongs to the G8. This was mainly due to the fact it was once one of the world's leading superpowers during 1960's - 1980's, but it has recently faced many problems such as rampant corruption, outdated technology, ill management of public infrastructure, poor banking system and imperfect business law. Modernization and intergradation to Europe are still in process and its GDP per capita clearly places Russia 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.

• UAE and Brunei are considered developed by some sources as their GDP per capita are relatively high. Their HDIs are, however, lower than 0.9. Besides, their economies are solely and/or heavily relying on the aspects of tourism (UAE) and oil/gas production (Brunei) that cannot be fairly taken into account as advanced and mature economies as developed countries.

EIU

Another relative research about standard of living by EIU Quality-of-life Survey refers the top thirty countries with best quality of life include: Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Australia , Iceland, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Singapore, Finland, United States, Canada, New Zealand, Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong (SAR of People's Republic of China), Portugal, Austria, Republic of China (Taiwan), Greece, Cyprus, Belgium, France, Germany, Slovenia, Malta, United Kingdom and South Korea.

HDI

Main article: Human Development Index

Main article: List of countries by Human Development Index

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.

References

• World Bank (high-income economies)
• The World Factbook (developed countries)
• United Nations Statistics Division (definition)
• United Nations Statistics Division (developed regions)
• IMF (advanced economies)
• The Economist (quality of life survey)

See also

• List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita
• List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
• UN Human Development Index
• List of countries by Human Development Index
• Developing country
• Newly industrialized country
• Decolonisation
• Economic development
• Quality of life
• Sustainable development
• Standard of living
• Industrialisation
• DEMOLOGOS