A developed country is a country that has a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue.

Countries not fitting such definitions are classified as developing countries or undeveloped countries.

Similar terms

Terms similar to developed country include advanced country, industrialized country, more developed country (MDC), more economically developed country (MEDC), Global North country, first world country, and post-industrial country. The term industrialized country may be somewhat 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 industrialized country was the United Kingdom, followed by Belgium, Germany, United States, France and other Western European countries. According to some 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 and criteria

Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is income per capita; countries with high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would thus be described as developed countries. Another economic criterion is industrialization; countries in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate would thus be described as developed. More recently another measure, the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines an economic measure, national income, with other measures, indices for life expectancy and education has become prominent. This criterion would define developed countries as those with a very high (HDI) rating. However, many anomalies exist when determining "developed" status by whichever measure is used.

Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, defined a developed country as follows: "A developed country is one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment." But according to the United Nations Statistics Division, :There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United Nations system. And it notes that : The designations "developed" and "developing" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. The UN also notes :In common practice, Japan in Asia, Canada and the United States in North America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and most European countries 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; countries emerging from the former Yugoslavia are treated as developing countries; and countries of eastern Europe and of the Commonwealth of Independent States (code 172) in Europe are not included under either developed or developing regions.

According to the classification from IMF before April 2004, all the countries of Eastern Europe (including Central European countries that still belong to the Eastern Europe Group in the UN institutions) as well as the former Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) and Mongolia, were not included under either developed or developing regions, but rather were referred to as "countries in transition"; however they are now widely regarded (in the international reports) as "developing countries". In the 21^st century, the original Four Asian Tigers, (which are Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) are considered "developed" regions or areas, along with Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Israel, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Human Development Index

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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 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."

Since 1980, Norway (2001–2006, 2009 and 2010), Japan (1990–91 and 1993), Canada (1992 and 1994–2000) and Iceland (2007–08) have had the highest HDI score. The top 42 countries have scores ranging from 0.788 in Barbados to 0.938 in Norway.

Many countries listed by IMF or CIA as "advanced" (as of 2009), possess an HDI over 0.788 (as of 2010). Many countries possessing an HDI of 0.788 and over (as of 2010), are also listed by IMF or CIA as "advanced" (as of 2009). Thus, many "advanced economies" (as of 2009) are characterized by an HDI score of 0.9 or higher (as of 2007).

The latest index was released on November 4, 2010 and covers the period up to 2008. The following are the 42 countries classified as possessing a "Very high human development" with an HDI at or above 0.788 and are considered as "developed countries".

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !scope="col" colspan="2"| Rank !scope="col" rowspan="2" width="250"| Country !scope="col" colspan="2"| HDI |- !scope="col" width="75"| New 2010 estimates for 2010 !scope="col" width="75"| Change compared to old 2009 values for 2007 !scope="col" width="75"| New 2010 estimates for 2010 !scope="col" width="75"| Change compared to new 2010 estimates for 2009 |- | 1 || ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.938 || 0.001 |- | 2 || ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.937 || 0.002 |- | 3 || (17) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.907 || 0.003 |- | 4 || (9) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.902 || 0.003 |- | 5 || ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.895 || 0.001 |- | 6 || (13) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.891 || 0.002 |- | 7 || (1) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.890 || 0.002 |- | 8 || (4) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.888 || 0.002 |- | 9 || (2) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.885 || 0.001 |- | 10 || (12) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.885 || 0.002 |- | 11 || (1) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.884 || 0.003 |- | 12 || (14) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.877 || 0.005 |- | 13 || (4) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.874 || 0.002 |- | 14 || (6) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.872 || 0.003 |- | 15 || (12) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.872 || 0.001 |- | 16 || (4) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.871 || 0.002 |- | 17 || (14) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.869 || |- | 18 || (1) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.867 || 0.002 |- | 19 || (3) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.866 || 0.002 |- | 20 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.863 || 0.002 |- | 21 || (3) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.862 || 0.005 |} {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !scope="col" colspan="2"| Rank !scope="col" rowspan="2" width="250"| Country !scope="col" colspan="2"| HDI |- !scope="col" width="75"| New 2010 estimates for 2010 !scope="col" width="75"| Change compared to old 2009 values for 2007 !scope="col" width="75"| New 2010 estimates for 2010 !scope="col" width="75"| Change compared to new 2010 estimates for 2009 |- | 22 || (3) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.855 || 0.002 |- | 23 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.854 || 0.003 |- | 24 || (13) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.852 || 0.002 |- | 25 || (11) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.851 || 0.002 |- | 26 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.849 || 0.002 |- | 27 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.846 || 0.005 |- | 28 || (8) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.841 || |- | 29 || ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.828 || 0.002 |- | 30 || (2) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.824 || 0.002 |- | 31 || (11) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.818 || 0.003 |- | 32 || (3) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.815 || 0.003 |- | 33 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.815 || 0.002 |- | 34 || (6) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.812 || 0.003 |- | 35 || (3) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.810 || 0.001 |- | 36 || (7) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.805 || 0.002 |- | 37 || (7) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.805 || 0.001 |- | 38 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.803 || 0.005 |- | 39 || ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.801 || 0.003 |- | 40 || (6) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.795 || 0.004 |- | 41 || ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.795 || 0.004 |- | 42 || (5) ||style="text-align:left"| || 0.788 || 0.001 |}

Other lists of developed countries

Only three institutions have produced lists of "developed countries". The three institutions and their lists are the UN list (shown above), the CIA list and the FTSE Group's list, whose list is not included because its association of developed countries with countries with both high incomes and developed markets is not deemed as directly relevant here. However many institutions have created lists which are sometimes referred to when people are discussing developed countries. The IMF identifies 35 "advanced economies", The OECD, also widely known as the 'developed countries club' has 34 members. The World Bank identifies 66 "high income countries". The EIU's Quality-of-life survey and a list of countries with welfare states are also included here. The criteria for using all these lists and for countries' inclusion on these lists are often not properly spelt out, and several of these lists are based on old data.

IMF advanced economies

According to the International Monetary Fund the following 35 economies are classified as "advanced economies":

The CIA has modified an older version of the IMF's list of Advanced Economies, noting that the IMF's Advanced Economies list "would presumably also cover" some smaller countries. These include:

{| |- |• ||• || • ||• || • || • |}

Development Assistance Committee members

There are 24 members — 23 selected OECD member countries and the European Commission—in the Development Assistance Committee, a group of the world's major donor countries that discuss issues surrounding development aid and poverty reduction in developing countries. , the following OECD member countries are DAC members:

17 countries in Europe: (since 1965) (since 1961) (since 1963) (since 1975) (since 1961) (since 1961) (since 1999) (since 1985) (since 1961) (since 1992) (since 1961) (since 1962) (since 1961)¹ (since 1991) (since 1965) (since 1968) (since 1961)

2 countries in Asia: (since 1961) (since 2010)

2 countries in North America: (since 1961) (since 1961)

2 countries in Oceania: (since 1966) (since 1973)

¹ Joined the DAC in 1961, withdrew in 1974 and re-joined in 1991.

High-income OECD members

There are 31 High-income OECD members. As of 2010, the High-income OECD membership is as follows:

24 countries in Europe:

3 countries in Asia:

2 countries in North America:

2 countries in Oceania:

Economist's quality-of-life survey of 2005

Research about standard of living and quality of life by the Economist Intelligence Unit resulted in a quality-of-life index. As of 2005, the highest-ranked economies are

1. Ireland
2. Switzerland
3. Norway
4. Luxembourg
5. Sweden
6. Australia

   7. Iceland
   8. Italy
   9. Denmark
   10. Spain
   11. Singapore
   12. Finland

       13. United States
       14. Canada
       15. New Zealand
       16. Netherlands
       17. Japan
       18. Hong Kong

           19. Portugal
           20. Austria
           21. Taiwan
           22. Greece
           23. Cyprus
           24. Belgium

               25. France
               26. Germany
               27. Slovenia
               28. Malta
               29. United Kingdom
               30. South Korea

               Newsweek's quality-of-life survey of 2010

               Research about standard of living and quality of life by Newsweek, resulted in the "world's best countries" index, measuring: "health, education, economy, and politics". As of 15/8/2010, the highest-ranked countries are:

               7. 14. 21. 28. 35. 42. See also

                                  43. Developing country
                                  44. Least developed country

                                  References

                                  External links

                                  45. IMF (advanced economies)
                                  46. The Economist (quality of life survey)
                                  47. The World Factbook (developed countries)
                                  United Nations Statistics Division (definition)
                                  48. United Nations Statistics Division (developed regions)
                                  49. World Bank (high-income economies)

                                  Category:Country classifications Category:Human geography Category:Economic geography Category:Development Category:Lists of countries

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