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developing countries — English
Countries (states) that have not yet reached the same levels of wealth, industrialisation and human well-being which typify the developed countries (states) of Western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and a number of states in other regions. The term stems from the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was used only in an economic sense to describe the level of industrialisation of a country. The per capita gross national product (GNP) and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) were initially used to distinguish between developed (“rich”) and developing (“poor”) states. Nowadays measures of human well-being are also taken into account to define a country’s level of development. Measures such as the human development index (see “development”), are now used to describe a country’s level of development of a country. African states and a number of states in Asia and Southern America are typical developing countries. These countries have low HDIs, large numbers of malnourished citizens, high infant mortality rates, low average levels of education, large numbers of illiterate individuals, and a low average per capita income. The level of development of a country is a relative concept (see “development”) and South Africa is an apposite example of that. When compared to most African states, South Africa would probably appear to be “developed” since it has the largest economy in Africa, a higher average per capita income, literacy level, and life expectancy than most African states, while it also has a lower infant mortality and starvation rate than many African states. However, when South Africa is compared to the developed countries such as the West European states, Japan, Canada and the United States of America, it is plain to see that South Africa is a developing country with certain characteristics of a country which is in transition to become a developed state (see “countries in transition (CITs)”).
