Is the concept of the developing world a useful one? Why or why not? Ans. A developing country, also called a less-developed country, is a nation with a lower standard of living, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Inde !HDI" relative to other countries. #n the other hand, since the late $%%&s developing countries tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than the developed ones. 'here is no universal, agreed-upon criterion for what ma(es a country developing versus developed and which countries )t these two categories, although there are general reference points such as a nation*s +D per capita compared to other nations. Also, the general term less-developed country should not be confused with the speci)c least developed country. 'here is criticism of the use of the term developing developing country. country. 'he term implies implies inferiority of a developing country or undeveloped country compared to a developed country, which many countries disli(e. It assumes a desire to develop along the traditional Western model of economic development which a few countries, such as uba and hutan, choose not to follow. An alternative measurement that has been suggested is that of gross national happiness, measuring the actual satisfaction of people as opposed to how industriali/ed a country is. 'here is some criticism criticism of the use of the term 0developing 0developing country0. country0. 'he term implies inferiority of a 0developing country0 or 0undeveloped country0 compared to a 0developed country0, which many countries disli(e. disli(e. It assumes a desire to 0develop0 along the traditional Western model of economic development, which a few countries, such as uba and hutan, choose not to follow. 'he term 0developing0 0developing0 implies mobility and does does not ac(nowledge ac(nowledge that development may be in decline or static in some countries, particularly particularly in southern African African states worst a1ected by HI23AID4. In such cases, the term 0developing country0 may be considered considered a euphemism. 'he term implies homogeneity between such countries, which vary widely. 'he term also implies homogeneity within such countries when wealth !and health" of the most and least a5uent groups varies widely. 4imilarly, the term 0developed country0 incorrectly implies a lac( of continuing economic development3growth in more-developed more-developed countries. In general, development entails a modern infrastructure infrastructure !both physical and institutional", and a move away from low value added sectors such as agriculture and natural resource etraction. Developed countries, in comparison, usually have economic systems based on continuous, self-sustaining economic growth in the tertiary sector of the economy and 6uaternary sector of the economy and high material standards of living. However, there are notable eceptions, as some countries considered developed have a signi)cant component of primary industries in their national economies, e.g., 7orway, anada, Australia. 'he 84A and Western 9urope have a very important agricultural agricultural sector, and are ma:or players in international agricultural mar(ets. Also, natural resource etraction can be a very pro)table industry industry !high value added", e.g., oil etraction. An alternative measurement that has been suggested is that of gross national
happiness, measuring the actual satisfaction of people as opposed to how )scally wealthy a country is.
