developing country

A developing country has a relatively low standard of living, an undeveloped industrial base, and a moderate to low Human Development Index (HDI) score. In developing countries, there is low per capita income, widespread poverty, and low capital formation. The term has tended to edge out earlier ones, including the Cold War-defined "Third World", which has come to have unintentional negative connotations associated with it, but new terms such as Less developed country (LDC) or Less economically developed country (LEDC) have not caught on yet. LEDC is a term used by modern geographers to portray the countries classified as "developing countries" more accurately, specifying that they are less economically developed, which usually correlates best with other factors such as low human development.

Development entails 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, in comparison, usually have economic systems based on continuous, self-sustaining economic growth in the tertiary and quaternary sectors and high standards of living.

The application of the term developing country to some of the world's less developed countries could be considered inappropriate: a number of poor countries are not improving their economic situation (as the term implies), but have experienced prolonged periods of economic decline.

Countries that have the more advanced economies among the developing nations but have not yet fully demonstrated the signs of a developed country, are grouped under the term Newly Industrialised Country.

Measure and concept of development
The development of a country is measured with statistical indexes such as income per capita (GDP), life expectancy, the rate of literacy, et cetera. The UN has developed the HDI, a compound indicator of the above statistics, to gauge the level of human development for countries where data is available.

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.

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 less developed countries (LDCs), least economically developed countries (LEDCs), "underdeveloped nations" or "undeveloped nations", Third World nations, the South, grandpa's house and "non-industrialized nations". Conversely, the opposite end of the spectrum is termed developed countries, most economically developed countries (MEDCs), First World nations and "industrialized nations".

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).

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 wrong tendency to believe that the standard of living in all of the developing world is the same.

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 underdevelopment
According to different economic and development theories, sources of underdevelopment include:


Social
Intrinsic attitudes and aptitudes
attitudes and culture of the people;
aptitudes and behavior of the elites and leaders;
High fertility rates and high birth rates
Legal structures and institutions
a breakdown in the rule of law
high corruption
place of the country in a historical and cultural system;

Typology and names of countries
Countries are often loosely placed into four categories of development:

Developed countries, and their dependencies (For a list of countries, see developed country.)
Countries with an economy consistently and fairly strongly developing over a longer period (People's Republic of China excluding Hong Kong and Macau which are developed, Mexico, Brazil, India, South Africa,Iran, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, much of South America, several of the Persian Gulf States, Malaysia, Thailand, the former Warsaw Pact, etc.). See Emerging markets.
Countries with a patchy record of development (most countries in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean excepting Jamaica (category 2) and Puerto Rico (U.S. territory); much of the Arab world falls in this category); also much of Southeast Asia, falls under this category excepting Singapore (category 1), Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand (category 2). 76% of the world's countries fall under this category.
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, Myanmar, North Korea)