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The term developed 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 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 in the United Kingdom sparked by the industrial revolution as well as the agricultural revolution.

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. All countries listed below as "advanced" (as of 2007) - possess an HDI over 0.9 (as of 2004), and all countries possessing an HDI of 0.9 and over (as of 2004) - are listed below as "advanced" (as of 2007), so an "advanced" country (as of 2007) may temporarily be roughly-defined as a country the HDI of which is over 0.9 (as of 2004). However, this unofficial temporary definition may mislead: it was not valid before 2004 and may no longer be valid in the future.

Countries with an HDI between 0.8 and 0.9 — though not corresponding to what the conventional definition of being a "advanced" country is — exhibit high development, and those with an HDI between 0.5 and 0.8 (including many of the former Soviet and Eastern Bloc states) - exhibit moderate development.

Comprehensive list of advanced countries/territories

The official classification of developed/advanced countries is originally made by organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). By May 2001, The most comprehensive list of advanced countries had been the current CIA list, intended to follow the IMF list but comprising also a few non IMF members which technically couldn't be included in the IMF list. However, since May 2001 - two additional countries (Cyprus and Slovenia) have been added to the original IMF list, thus leaving the CIA list not updated. Below is the comprehensive group (in alphabetical order) of advanced countries/territories as given by CIA, plus the two new advanced countries added recently to the original IMF list (Unless otherwise indicated - a given country is classified as advanced by both the IMF and the CIA):

Continent	Country	GDP per capita PPP (2006)	HDI (2004)
North America	Bermuda ( United Kingdom)	69,900	N/A
	Canada	35,494	0.950
	United States	43,444	0.948
Asia	Hong Kong (SAR of China)	38,127	0.927
	Israel	30,464	0.927
	Japan	32,647	0.949
	Singapore	32,867	0.916
	South Korea	23,926	0.912
	Republic of China (Taiwan)	30,084	0.925
Europe	Andorra	38,800	N/A
	Austria	36,031	0.944
	Belgium	34,478	0.945
	Cyprus	29,105	0.903
	Denmark	36,549	0.943
	Faroe Islands ( Denmark)	31,000	0.941
	Finland	34,819	0.947
	France	30,693	0.942
	Germany	31,095	0.932
	Greece	25,975	0.921
	Iceland	40,277	0.960
	Ireland	44,087	0.956
	Italy	30,732	0.940
	Liechtenstein	54,000	N/A
	Luxembourg	80,471	0.945
	Monaco	30,000	N/A
	Netherlands	35,078	0.947
	Norway	43,574	0.965
	Portugal	22,677	0.904
	San Marino	34,100	N/A
	Slovenia	23,843	0.910
	Spain	27,522	0.938
	Sweden	34,409	0.951
	Switzerland	37,369	0.947
	United Kingdom	35,051	0.940
	Vatican City	N/A	N/A
Oceania	Australia	32,938	0.957
	New Zealand	25,531	0.936

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.

Africa

• South Africa: Is currently a sole member of G8+5 from Africa. It sometimes mentioned as a "developed" country by the CIA (though not by the World Bank nor by the IMF). However, it's not considered "advanced" by any international organisation (including the CIA). It currently has a GDP per capita of 12,796 USD but its HDI is medium (0.653). South Africa is a newly industrialized country.

North America

• Mexico: The only Latin American country part of the OECD. It is a member of the NAFTA along with the US and Canada, but not as developed as these two countries. Some authors still consider Mexico a developing country rather than a developed one, though most properly Mexico lies between these two extremes as a newly industrialised country or NIC. Mexico's HDI of 0.821 (UN categorizes it as "high") is superior to that of Russia, Brazil, Turkey, China, India and South Africa, and the country possesses a booming upper middle-income economy with a GDP (PPP) per capita of $11,249 USD. Mexico is a regional power in Latin America.

Caribbean

•  Barbados, has an HDI of 0.879, putting it in the UN "High Development Category", with a world ranking of 31th. The Parliamentary Democracy possesses a very high middle-income economy with a GDP (PPP) per capita of $18,400 USD, putting it in a higher bracket than the South American continent. Barbados exercises considerable regional and economic power in the Caribbean.

Europe

• Some organisations consider the remaining countries of the European Union — especially Czech Republic — among the developed countries, but these mostly former-Eastern bloc countries are rather newly industrialised nations, and some of them (such as Romania and Bulgaria) remain significantly less affluent than EU-15 countries. All European Union members, however, have a GDP per capita greater than the global average and high human development according to the HDI.

• Malta, an EU member since 2004, is classified as a high-income economy by the World Bank and considered developed by the CIA. Its HDI is 0.875 (high), ranked 32nd in the world, and it is not classified as an "advanced economy" by the IMF.

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.
• Turkey: The economy of Turkey is still basically in the sphere of agriculture, employing the largest part of population. Fishing is another part of the economy, however, it is still quite inefficient. Industrial products from Turkey for export is relatively small compared to European levels. Turkey is considered "developed" by the CIA (though not by the World Bank nor by the IMF). However, it's not considered "advanced" by any international organisation (including the CIA), while its GDP per capita of $9,107 USD, along with its medium HDI of 0.757, clearly place it among the developing countries. Nevertheless, Turkey is a newly industrialized country.

Notes

1. Namely sovereign states, i.e. excluding Macau (being under China's sovereignty): In 2003 the government of Macau calculated its HDI as being 0.909 (the UN does not calculate Macau's HDI); In January 2007, the People's Daily reported (from China Modernization Report 2007): "In 2004...Macau...had reached the level of developed countries". However, Macau is not recognized by any international organisation as a developed/advanced territory. Furthermore, the UNCTAD organisaion (of the UN), as well as the CIA, classify Macao as a "developing" territory. Anyway, The World Bank classifies Macau as a high income economy (along with developed economies as well as with few developing economies).
2. Except for the micro-countries, of which the figures refer to earlier years due to lack of updated data.
3. non IMF member; recognized as advanced by the CIA.
4. Though not being an IMF member, it is classified as advanced by the IMF.
5. 2004 calculated by National Statistics Taiwan
6. non IMF member; recognized as advanced by the CIA.
7. Cyprus, added to the IMF list in May 2001, hasn't yet been added to the CIA list (which is intended to adhere to the IMF list), thus leaving the CIA list not updated.
8. non IMF member; recognized as advanced by the CIA.
9. non IMF member; recognized as advanced by the CIA.
10. non IMF member; recognized as advanced by the CIA.
11. Slovenia, added to the IMF list in April 2007, hasn't yet been added to the CIA list (which is intended to adhere to the IMF list), thus leaving the CIA list not updated.
12. non IMF member; recognized as advanced by the CIA.
13. ^ IMF Country Profiles
14. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
15. Oxford Analytica
16. See Corruption Perceptions Index
17. See Russia Infrastructure
18. See Improving business standards in Russia, 23rd Apr, 2007
19. See The Modernization Challenge Facing President Putin
20. See 50 Years of the European Integration and Russia
21. See Turkey: Economy

References

• 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