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Encyclopedia > LEDC
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A developing country is a country with a low income average, a relatively backwards infrastructure and a poor human development index when compared to the global norm. The term has tended to edge out earlier ones, including the Cold War-defined "Third World". Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A country, a land, is a geographical area that connotes an independent political entity, with its own government, administration, laws, often a constitution, police, military, tax rules, and population, who are one anothers countrymen. ... For the generic term for a high-tension rivalry between countries, see cold war (war). ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ...


Development entails developing a modern infrastructure (both physical and institutional), and a move away from low value added sectors such as agriculture and natural resource extraction. Developed countries usually have economic systems based on continuous, self-sustaining economic growth. Development has meaning in several contexts: I see you Claire Science Biological development of embryos in the context of developmental biology Child development or post-natal human development (pediatrics, etc) Software engineering, the methodology and process of development of computer software Technology development in industry, as in Software development The... A developed country is a nation that enjoys a relatively high standard of living through a strong high-technology diversified economy. ... An economic system is a mechanism which deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a particular society. ... Accumulated GDP growth for various countries. ...


The application of the term 'developing country' to all of the world's least developed countries could be considered innappropriate in the cases of a number of poor countries, due to the fact that they are not improving their economic situation as the term implies, but have experienced prolonged periods of economic decline.

Contents


Measure of development

The term "developing country" often refers mainly to countries with low levels of economic development, but this is usually closely associated with social development, in terms of education, healthcare, life expectancy, etc. Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. ... Health care or healthcare is one of the worlds largest and fastest growing professions. ... Life expectancy is the most likely number of years remaining for a living being (or the average for a class of living beings) of a given age to live. ...


The development of a country is measured with statistical indexes such as income per capita (GDP), the rate of illiteracy, and access to water. The UN puts forth a compound indicator using these lists of statistics, to create, a "human development index" which gives a sense of how developed countries are. Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning for each head. ... Literacy is the ability to use text to communicate across space and time. ...


Developing countries are in general countries which have not achieved a significant degree of industrialization relative to their populations, and which have a low standard of living. There is a strong correlation between low income and high population growth, both within and between countries. A country, a land, is a geographical area that connotes an independent political entity, with its own government, administration, laws, often a constitution, police, military, tax rules, and population, who are one anothers countrymen. ... The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people. ... In probability theory and statistics, correlation, also called correlation coefficient, is a numeric measure of the strength of linear relationship between two random variables. ...


Nature of development

Even though a good part of the world seems to aspire to development, the term itself is criticized by those who think it is too centered on Western countries. The term implies a direction and a movement that the countries must follow; it implies an inferiority of the developing countries.


The terms utilized when discussing developing countries refer to the intent and to the constructs of those who utilize these terms. Other terms sometimes used are lesser developed countries or less [economically] developed countries (LDCs/LEDCs), underdeveloped nations or undeveloped nations, Third World nations, the South, or non-industrialized nations. Conversely, the opposite end of the spectrum is termed developed countries, more economically developed countries (MEDCs), First World nations, or industrialized nations. For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... In geopolitics, the term The South is often used to refer to the poorer, less technologically advanced nations of the world as opposed to The North, which is richer and more developed. ... A developed country is a country that has achieved (currently or historically) a high degree of industrialization, and which enjoys the higher standards of living which wealth and technology make possible. ... The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. ...


The United Nations allows each nation to decide for itself whether it will be designated as "undeveloped" or "developing" (though many economists and other observers ignore the UN rule about self-designation). The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ...


To moderate the euphemistic aspect of the word developing, international organisations have started to use the term least developed countries (LLDCs) for the poorest nations which can in no sense be regarded as developing. That is, LLDCs are the poorest subset of LDCs. This also moderates the naïve tendency to believe that the standard of living in Somalia or Ethiopia is comparable to that in Brazil or Mexico. For the political science journal, see: International Organization An international organization (also called intergovernmental organization) is an organization of international scope or character. ... The category of least developed countries (LDCs) is a social/economic classification status applied to around 50 countries around the world by political scientists and economists through the United Nations. ... A is a subset of B If X and Y are sets and every element of X is also an element of Y, then we say or write: X is a subset of (or is included in) Y; X ⊆ Y; Y is a superset of (or includes) X; Y ⊇ X...


The concept of the developing nation is found, under one term or another, in numerous theoretical systems having diverse orientations — for example, theories of decolonization, liberation theology, marxism, anti-imperialism, and political economy.


Sources of (under)development

According to different theories, sources of underdevelopment include:

  • Low saving which may lead to low investment according to Harrod-Domar model but large amount of saving and investment still does not imply strong development
  • Intrinsic attitudes and aptitudes, real or used as justification
    • attitudes and culture of the people;
    • aptitudes and behavior of the elites and leaders;
  • Legal structures and institutions
    • a breakdown in the rule of law
    • high corruption
  • Extrinsic factors, real or used as justification
    • geopolitical or commercial interest that it creates compared to other countries;
    • place of the country in a historical and cultural system;
    • inadequate reforms imposed in counterpart with financing of last resort, by multilateral organizations (like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) to get out of situations of deficit and indebtedness in which the country is placed (see Developing countries' debt).
    • lack of interest in and comprehension for the specific dynamics of a nation, by multinational companies.

The Harrod-Domar model is used in economics to explain an economys growth rate in terms of the level of saving and productivity of capital. ... The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring foreign exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when asked. ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means... A budget deficit occurs when an entity (often a government) spends more money than it takes in. ... Debt is that which is owed. ... Third World debt is external debt incurred by Third World countries. ...

Typology and names of countries

Countries are often loosely placed into four categories of development:

  1. Developed countries, and their dependencies (For a list of countries, see developed country.)
  2. Countries with an economy consistently and fairly strongly developing over a longer period (China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, much of South America, Malaysia, Thailand, Possibly the former Warsaw Pact, etc.)
  3. Countries with a patchy record of development (most countries in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean excepting Jamaica (category 2); much of the Arab world falls in this category); also most of Southeast Asia, falls under this category excepting Singapore, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand (category 2). 76% of the world's nations fall under this category.
  4. Countries with long-term civil war or large-scale breakdown of rule of law or non-development-oriented dictatorship ("failed states") (e.g. Haiti, Somalia, Sudan, Burma, perhaps North Korea)

The term "developing nation" is not a label to assign a specific, similar type of problem. Designation of these nations depends on the angle at which one approaches them, and according to the solutions envisoned to solve their problems. Each one of these terms has meanings beyond its first appearance: A developed country is a nation that enjoys a relatively high standard of living through a strong high-technology diversified economy. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Map of Warsaw Pact member countries. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and second most populous after Asia. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

The term was used for the first time by demographer Alfred Sauvy and refers to the Third Estate. The Third world does not include the nations of the liberal West ("First World") nor of the Soviet bloc ("Second World"), and to some extent were ignored because they could not throw strong support behind either. A Cold War era term which is increasingly deprecated.
These terms originate from the fact that most developing countries (including many of the poorest) are in the southern hemisphere (south of the Equator), and most developed countries are in the northern hemisphere. However, the geographic distinction is not perfect — for example, Australia and New Zealand, both developed, are in the southern hemisphere, but not included in "the South". "North" and "South" are essentially euphemisms for "developed country" and "developing country", but are alternatives which are often preferred by people from the South because they avoid the loaded reference to "development".
  • Rich and poor countries
These terms suggest a greater focus on income per capita. It should be noted that this statistic only reflects the statistical average wealth of a country's citizens; when income is distributed very unequally (as measured for example by the Gini coefficient) this figure may be misleading (see also kleptocracy).
  • Industrialized and non-industrialized countries
Most countries that are currently being industrialized or are in advanced phases of industrialization, also have characteristics of a post-industrial economy.

For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term Third Estate (tiers état) indicated the generality of people which were not part of the clergy (the First Estate) nor of the nobility (the Second Estate). ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... In geopolitics, the term The South is often used to refer to the poorer, less technologically advanced nations of the world as opposed to The North, which is richer and more developed. ... The term the North is often used to refer to the wealthy and technologically advanced nations of the world, as opposed to the South, which is poorer and less developed. ... The equator is an imaginary circle drawn around a planet at a distance halfway between the poles. ... The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality developed by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper Variabilità e mutabilità. It is usually used to measure income inequality, but can be used to measure any form of uneven distribution. ... Kleptocracy (sometimes Cleptocracy) (root: Klepto+cracy = rule by thieves) is a pejorative, informal term for a government so corrupt that no pretense of honesty remains. ... A post industrial country is a nation that is industrialized and is in the de-industrialization phase. ...

See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Geography | Urbanrural | Urban growth in LEDCs (371 words)
LEDCs tend to have a low level of
This means that they have fewer people living in towns and cities compared to the number of people living in the countryside - but that this situation is changing fast.
This is harder to measure as it tries to consider factors that make people happy, such as culture, leisure time, and safety.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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