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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.

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/advanced country include industrialized countries, more developed countries (MDC) and more economically developed countries (MEDC). The term industrialized country may be ambiguous, as industrialization 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. The first industrialised country was England, followed by Germany, France, the remainder of the United Kingdom and other Western European countires. According to economists such as Jeffrey Sachs, however, the current divide between the developed and developing world is largely a phenomenon of the 20 century, noting that until the post World War II era most persons in all soceities were impoverished.

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 Western 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 the more comprehensive group of "developed countries" also covers the East Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan). Hong Kong has long been considered developed by the IMF which grants the formal classification of developed countries. Although Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is a developing country, it is still considered internationally as separate economic entities (as it has its own currencies - the Hong Kong Dollar) and a separate political system according to the Basic Law of Hong Kong. Due to the difference between its economy and that of mainland China, its territory retain its own border and custom controls.

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.

Quality-of-life Survey

Another relative research about standard of living by Economist Intelligence Unit or EIU Quality-of-life Survey refers the top thirty countries with the best quality of life (in ranking order): 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, France, Germany, Slovenia, Malta, United Kingdom and South Korea.

Human Development Index

The UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges a country's level of human development. While there is a strong correlation between having a high HDI score and a prosperous economoy, 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." An example 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-present), Japan (1991 & 1993), Canada (1985, 1992, 1994-2000) and Switzerland (1980) have had the highest HDI socre. Countries with a score of over 0.800 are considered to have a "high" standard of human development. The top 30 countries has 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. On the CIA list of "developed countries" Turkey (0.75) and South Africa (0.658) did not have a high HDI score. The World Bank list of high income countries includes several countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Estonia, that did not have a high HDI score in the 2003 UN study. Several small countries, such as Andorra, Liechtenstein and Macau were on one or more of the three list but were not reviewed by the United Nations. Thus, there countries have not received an official HDI score.

Lists of prosperous economies

While there is 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 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has identifies 34 "developed countries," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identifies 31 "advanced economies" while the World Bank identifies 60 "high income countries." The criteria used to create these lists differ across these organizations as does the placement of certain countries.

CIA developed country list

The CIA classifies 34 economic entities as "developed countries (DCs)." The CIA considers its list of developed countries a "more comprehensive group" than the advanced economy list by the IMF.

the top group in the hierarchy of developed countries (DCs), former USSR/Eastern Europe (former USSR/EE), and less developed countries (LDCs); includes the market-oriented economies of the mainly democratic nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Bermuda, Israel, South Africa, and the European ministates; also known as the First World, high-income countries, the North, industrial countries - CIA, 2007

•  Andorra	•  Finland	•  Italy	•  Norway	•  United States
•  Australia	•  France	•  Japan	•  Portugal	•  United Kingdom
•  Austria	•  Germany	•  Liechtenstein	•  San Marino
•  Belgium	•  Greece	•  Luxembourg	•  South Africa
•  Bermuda	•  Holy See	•  Malta	•  Spain
•  Canada	•  Iceland	•  Monaco	•  Sweden
•  Denmark	•  Ireland	•  Netherlands	•   Switzerland
•  Faroe Islands	•  Israel	•  New Zealand	•  Turkey

IMF advanced economy list

According to the International Monetary Fund the following 31 countries are classified as "advaced economies:"

•  Australia	•  Iceland	•  San Marino
•  Austria	•  Ireland	•  Singapore
•  Belgium	•  Israel	•  Slovenia
•  Canada	•  Italy	•  South Korea
•  Cyprus	•  Japan	•  Spain
•  Denmark	•  Luxembourg	•  Sweden
•  Finland	•  Netherlands	•   Switzerland
•  France	•  New Zealand	•  Taiwan
•  Germany	•  Norway	•  United Kingdom
•  Greece	•  Portugal	•  United States
•  Hong Kong

World Bank high income country list

"High income countries" are defined as countries with a Gross National Income per capita of $10,726 of more. According to the World Bank the following 60 countries were categorized as high income economies as of 2007:

•  Andorra	•  France	•  Netherlands
• Antigua and Barbuda	•  French Polynesia	•  Netherlands Antilles
•  Aruba	•  Germany	•  New Caledonia
•  Australia	•  Greece	•  New Zealand
•  Austria	•  Greenland	•  Norway
•  Bahamas	•  Guam	•  Portugal
•  Bahrain	•  Hong Kong, China	•  Puerto Rico
•  Barbados	•  Iceland	•  Qatar
•  Belgium	•  Ireland	•  San Marino
•  Bermuda	•  Isle of Man	•  Saudi Arabia
•  Brunei	•  Israel	•  Singapore
•  Canada	•  Italy	•  Slovenia
•  Cayman Islands	•  Japan	•  Spain
• Channel Islands	•  South Korea	•  Sweden
•  Cyprus	•  Kuwait	•   Switzerland
•  Czech Republic	•  Liechtenstein	•  Trinidad and Tobago
•  Denmark	•  Luxembourg	•  United Arab Emirates
•  Estonia	•  Macau, China	•  United Kingdom
•  Faroe Islands	•  Malta	•  United States
•  Finland	•  Monaco	• Virgin Islands (U.S.)

Other parts of the world

Countries considered likely to join the ranks of developed nations in the future must pass further major hurdles (e.g., debt, diversification, democratisation, crackdown on crime and corruption, lowering unemployment, education reform, development of a middle class) to attain full-fledged developed status; however, they have sufficient wealth to currently enjoy some benefits of "developed" status.

Eurasia

• Russia was 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, power, and communications, poor banking system and the lack of corporate governance, transparency and poor business ethics. Modernization and intergradation to Europe are still in process and its GDP per capita - PPP ($12,096) and HDI (0.797 - medium) clearly place Russia among the developing countries and should not be considered developed.

References

1. Sachs, Jeffrey (2005). The End of Poverty. New York, New York: The Penguin Press. 1-59420-045-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. "UN. (2006). Human Development Report". Retrieved 2007-07-07.
3. "NationMaster. (2003). Human Development Index by Country". Retrieved 2007-07-07.
4. "UN. (2006). Human Development Report: Summary" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-07.
5. "CIA. (19 June, 2007). International Organizations and Groups. World Factbook". Retrieved 2007-07-07.
6. "IMF. (April 2007). World Economic Outlook". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
7. ^ "World Bank. (2007). Data & Statistics: Country Groups". Retrieved 2007-06-20.
8. See Corruption Perceptions Index
9. See Russia Infrastructure
10. See Improving business standards in Russia, 23rd Apr, 2007
11. See The Modernization Challenge Facing President Putin
12. See 50 Years of the European Integration and Russia

External links

• 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

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• Country classifications
• Human geography
• Economic geography
• Development
• Lists of countries