Developed country Totally Explained

Everything about Developed Nation totally explained

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The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate. Countries not fitting this definition may be referred to as developing countries.
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 above description of a developed economy. However, anomalies exist when determining "developed" status by the factor GDP per capita alone.

Synonyms

Modern terms synonymous with the term developed country or advanced country include industrialized country, more developed country (MDC), more economically developed country (MEDC), Global North country and post-industrial country. The term industrialized country may be somewhat ambiguous, as industrialization is an ongoing process that's 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. The first industrialised country was England, followed by Germany, France, the remainder of the United Kingdom and other Western European countries. According to economists such as Jeffrey Sachs, however, the current divide between the developed and developing world is largely a phenomenon of the 20^th century.

Definition

In common practice, Canada and the United States in North America, Japan and South Korea in Asia, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and most countries in Northern Europe and Western Europe are considered "developed countries". Increasingly, the term "developed countries" is also used to refer to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan (Republic of China). Although Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China which is a developing country, it's still considered internationally as a separate economic entity as it has its own currency and customs controls. Taiwan (Republic of China) has limited international recognition and its status as a "country" is still debated. In international trade statistics, Israel is also treated as a developed country, and the 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.

High income countries

"High income countries" are defined by the World Bank as countries with a Gross National Income per capita of $11,116 or more. According to the United Nations definition some high income countries may also be developing countries. Thus, a high income country may be classified as either developed or developing.
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 (for example, 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 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.

Human Development Index

The UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges a country's level of human development. While there's a strong correlation between having a high HDI score and a prosperous economy, the UN points out that the HDI accounts for more than income or productivity. Unlike GDP per capita or per capita income, the HDI takes into account how income is turned "into education and health opportunities and therefore into higher levels of human development." A few examples are Italy and the United States. Despite a relatively large difference in GDP per capita, both countries rank roughly equal in term of overall human development. Since 1980, Norway (2001-2005), Japan (1991 and 1993), Canada (1985, 1992 and 1994-2000), Iceland (2006 and 2007) and Switzerland (1980) have had the highest HDI score. Countries with a score of over 0.800 are considered to have a "high" standard of human development. The top 30 countries have scores ranging from 0.885 in the Czech Republic to 0.965 in Norway. All countries included in the UN study on the IMF list had a high HDI. Several small countries, such as Andorra, Liechtenstein and Macau were not reviewed by the United Nations. Thus, these countries have not received an official HDI score.
All countries listed by IMF or CIA as "advanced" (as of 2007) - possess an HDI over 0.9 (as of 2004). All countries possessing an HDI of 0.9 and over (as of 2004) - are also listed by IMF or CIA as "advanced" (as of 2007). Thus, all "advanced economies" (as of 2007) are characterized by an HDI score of 0.9 or higher (as of 2004).

Lists of prosperous economies

While there's no official guideline for which country may or may not be considered developed, different institutions have created certain categories for the economically most prosperous countries. The IMF identifies 32 "advanced economies",

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CIA advanced economy list

The official classification of "advanced economies" was originally made by the IMF. The CIA intends to follow the IMF but also to add non-IMF members. Thus, until March 2001, the CIA list was more comprehensive than the IMF list. Since 2001, however, Cyprus, and more recently Slovenia and Malta, were added to the IMF list but not to the CIA advanced economy list. Below is the current CIA advanced economy list, consisting of 35 countries:

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FTSE Global Equity Index

The FTSE Group classifies countries into three categorizes, the process by which stock markets are classified as either Developed or Emerging markets within the FTSE Global Equity Index Series. The categories are Developed, Advanced Emerging, and Secondary Emerging.
FTSE classification, as of January 2008:
Developed:,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and,,,, and .

Quality-of-life survey

Research about standards of living and quality of life by the Economist Intelligence Unit resulted in a quality-of-life index. As of 2005, the 30 countries with the highest index are:

Ireland
Switzerland
Norway
Luxembourg
Sweden

Australia

Iceland
Italy
Denmark
Spain
Singapore

Finland

United States
Canada
New Zealand
Netherlands
Japan

Hong Kong

Portugal
Austria
Taiwan
Greece
Cyprus

Belgium

Further Information

Get more info on 'Developed Nation'.

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