Economi

ARE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES REALLY DEVELOPED?

Fifteen is the average of fourteen and sixteen. And so is it the average of one and twenty nine. This raises a very pertinent question - Are Developed Countries really developed? Do they really reflect the industrialised world? Or is it just a misnomer for these countries?

Today the term ‘development’ is in vogue. Every country strives to achieve ‘development’ and thrives on the buzzword ‘development’. But what is development? What are developed countries and why are they so called?

The United Nations Development Program defines development as to “lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community”. Development can therefore be seen as Empowerment. Economic Growth indicated through the National Income of a country cannot be taken as the only measure of development. ‘Real development’ means enhancing individual well-being which incorporates not only quantitative measures like purchasing power which is measured by Gross Domestic Product or per capita income but also qualitative aspects like health measured by life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate and literacy measured by literacy rate and so on and so forth.

Having understood what development is one needs to understand which countries qualify as developed countries. As per the World Bank, Economies are categorized according to 2010 GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method. The groups can be defined as low income group with income $1,005 or less; lower middle income group with income between $1,006 - $3,975; upper middle income group with income in the range $3,976 - $12,275; and high income group with income $12,276 or more. The low income countries are known as under-developed countries, lower and upper middle income countries are referred to as Developing countries whereas high income countries are identified as...