Developing Countries and Developed

In today’s modern society, the success of a country’s growth determines how far along it is in terms of advancement.

As a result, there are several indicators that are used to assess how well development has gone. The most popular development indicators include per capita income, unemployment rates, economic growth, and population growth rates. The aforementioned components, while not the only ones, are some of the most widely used to gauge a nation’s level of development. Countries are categorized into two broad categories, namely developed and developing countries, using the aforementioned metrics and others. In common practice, a country is deemed to be either developing or developed mainly on the basis of how its economy works or depending on the strength of the economy. In the recent past, a majority of experts defined the development of developing countries, dubbed third world countries mainly on economic terms such growth of the GNP, income, capital accumulation et al. (Balassa, 2014). While the above criteria remains important, the past few years other components of development have come to the fore. Social, political, and environmental aspects of development have taken on a more prominent role.

This analysis aims to critically analyze the differences between developing and developed countries analyzing the salient features of each category of countries.

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan described a developed country as “a country that allows its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment.” Conversely, the United Nations Statistics Division contends that ”there is no established convention for the designation of ”developed” and ”developing” countries or areas in the United Nations system” (Balassa, 2014) On the other hand, developing countries are characterized by poor levels of development unlike developed countries. However, it is possible to differentiate between developed and developing countries based on some salient characteristics all of which are particular to each class.

Per-Capita Income and Gross Domestic Product

This is one of the most important that sets apart developed and developing countries. Due to the level of economic development, developed countries generally exhibit a high level of per capita income and gross domestic product compared to developing countries (Bell, 1997). This is because unlike developed countries, most developing countries are not industrialized and the country’s population is inherently dependent on a subsistence economy.

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index is a statistical measure mostly used by the United Nations to measure the level of human development of a country. According to (Bell, 1997), there is a significant correlation between a prosperous economy and a high Human Development Index. Furthermore, the HDI is a good differentiating factor between developed and developing countries because it takes into account more than just income or productivity. As such, the HDI of developed countries is inherently higher than that of developing countries.

Population Growth Rate

Another effective measure differentiating developed and developing countries is population growth rate. Developing countries unlike developed countries exhibit high levels of population growth per annum compared to developed countries. This is despite the fact that developing countries are also inherently characterized by high child mortality rates (Balassa, 2014). Nonetheless, this is offset by the high birth rates which contributes to a high population growth rate.

Education and health levels

As discussed earlier, Human Development Index (HDI) has a positive correlation with a prosperous economy (Balassa, 2014). Furthermore, HDI takes into account how income is turned into health and education opportunities which effectively leads to higher levels of human development. Since developed countries exhibit high HDI, education and health levels are also high compared to developing countries which exhibit low HDI and therefore low education and health levels.

In conclusion, it is evident from the above discussion that developed and developing countries differ from one another as evidenced by a variety of factors.

The implication in this case is that residents of developed countries and developing countries lead different lives. Those in developing countries have a low to medium standard of living because of low per capita income and vice versa.

References

Balassa, B. (2014). Development Strategies’. International Economics and Development: Essays in Honor of Raúl Prebisch, 159.

Bell, M., & Pavitt, K. (1997). Technological accumulation and industrial growth: contrasts between developed and developing countries. Technology, globalisation and economic performance, 83137, 83-137.