Developed country

"Industrial nation" redirects here. For the magazine, see Industrialisation.
For the investing classification, see Developed market.

World map by quartiles of Human Development Index in 2014
  Very High
  High
  Medium
  Low
  Data unavailable

A developed country, industrialized country, or "more economically developed country" (MEDC), is a sovereign state that has a highly developed economy and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of economic development are gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the per capita income, level of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living.[1] Which criteria are to be used and which countries can be classified as being developed are subjects of debate.

Developed countries have post-industrial economies, meaning the service sector provides more wealth than the industrial sector. They are contrasted with developing countries, which are in the process of industrialization, or undeveloped countries, which are pre-industrial and almost entirely agrarian. As of 2015, advanced economies comprise 60.8% of global GDP based on nominal values and 42.9% of global GDP based on purchasing-power parity (PPP) according to the International Monetary Fund.[2] In 2015, the ten largest advanced economies by GDP in both nominal and PPP terms were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[3]

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 first industrialized country was the United Kingdom, followed by Belgium. Later it spread further to 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 20th century.[4]

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.

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.[5]

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.[6]

Human Development Index (HDI)

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 1990, Norway (2001–2006, 2009–2013), Japan (1990–1991 and 1993), Canada (1992 and 1994–2000) and Iceland (2007–2008) have had the highest HDI score. The top 47 countries have scores ranging from 0.793 in Barbados to 0.955 in Norway.

Many countries listed by IMF or[Note 1] CIA as "advanced" (as of 2009), possess an HDI over 0.788 (as of 2010). Many countries[Note 2] 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). Since April 2016, the IMF classifies Macau as an advanced economy.[7]

The latest index was released on 14 December 2015 and covers the period up to 2014. The following are the 49 countries in the top quartile - having an HDI above 0.8, and classified as possessing a "Very high human development".

Rank Country HDI
2015 estimates for 2014
[8]		 Change in rank from previous year[8] 2015 estimates for 2014
[8]		 Change from previous year
[8]
1 Steady  Norway 0.944 Increase 0.002
2 Steady  Australia 0.935 Increase 0.002
3 Steady   Switzerland 0.930 Increase 0.002
4 Steady  Denmark 0.923 Steady
5 Steady  Netherlands 0.922 Increase 0.002
6 Steady  Germany 0.916 Increase 0.001
6 Increase (2)  Ireland 0.916 Increase 0.004
8 Decrease (1)  United States 0.915 Increase 0.002
9 Decrease (1)  Canada 0.913 Increase 0.001
9 Increase (1)  New Zealand 0.913 Increase 0.002
11 Steady  Singapore 0.912 Increase 0.003
12 Steady  Hong Kong 0.910 Increase 0.002
13 Steady  Liechtenstein 0.908 Increase 0.001
14 Steady  Sweden 0.907 Increase 0.002
14 Increase (1)  United Kingdom 0.907 Increase 0.005
16 Steady  Iceland 0.899 Steady
17 Steady  Korea, South 0.898 Increase 0.003
18 Steady  Israel 0.894 Increase 0.001
19 Steady  Luxembourg 0.892 Increase 0.002
20 Decrease (1)  Japan 0.891 Increase 0.001
21 Steady  Belgium 0.890 Increase 0.002
22 Steady  France 0.888 Increase 0.001
23 Steady  Austria 0.885 Increase 0.001
24 Steady  Finland 0.883 Increase 0.001
25 Increase  Taiwan 0.882 Increase 0.001
Rank Country HDI
2015 estimates for 2014
[8]		 Change in rank from previous year[8] 2015 estimates for 2014
[8]		 Change from previous year
[8]
26 Steady  Slovenia 0.880 Increase 0.001
27 Steady  Spain 0.876 Increase 0.002
28 Steady  Italy 0.873 Steady
29 Steady  Czech Republic 0.870 Increase 0.002
30 Steady  Greece 0.865 Increase 0.002
31 Steady  Estonia 0.861 Increase 0.002
32 Steady  Brunei 0.856 Increase 0.004
33 Steady  Cyprus 0.850 Steady
33 Increase (1)  Qatar 0.850 Increase 0.001
35 Steady  Andorra 0.845 Increase 0.001
36 Increase (1)  Slovakia 0.844 Increase 0.005
37 Decrease (1)  Poland 0.843 Increase 0.003
38 Steady  Lithuania 0.839 Increase 0.002
39 Steady  Malta 0.839 Increase 0.002
40 Steady  Saudi Arabia 0.837 Increase 0.001
41 Steady  Argentina 0.836 Increase 0.003
42 Decrease (1)  United Arab Emirates 0.835 Increase 0.002
43 Steady  Chile 0.832 Increase 0.002
44 Steady  Portugal 0.830 Increase 0.002
45 Steady  Hungary 0.828 Increase 0.003
46 Steady  Bahrain 0.824 Increase 0.003
47 Increase (1)  Latvia 0.819 Increase 0.003
48 Decrease (1)  Croatia 0.818 Increase 0.001
49 Decrease (1)  Kuwait 0.816 Steady
50 Steady  Montenegro 0.802 Increase 0.001

As a non-UN member, the government of Taiwan calculates its own HDI, which had a value of 0.882 in 2011.[9] Additionally, while the HDI for the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong is calculated by the UN, it is not for Macau. The Macanese government calculated the territory's HDI to be 0.868 in 2011. These values place both Taiwan and Macau well within the list of countries with "Very high human development".[10] Furthermore, in 2009 a United Nations project calculated the HDI for all of its members, as well as Taiwan, Macau, and many dependent territories. The HDI values for the countries of San Marino and Monaco, which have not been included in official annual HDI reports, were found to be at 0.961 and 0.956 respectively. This places both countries firmly within the category of countries with "Very high human development" as well. The dependent territories with HDI values equivalent to "Very high human development" were: Jersey, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Norfolk Island, Faroe Islands, Isle of Man, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Greenland, and Guam.[11] Of note, the HDI values in the 2009 report were calculated using the old HDI formula, while HDI values after the year 2010 are calculated with a different formula.

Net take-home pay of OECD members

While GDP per capita is often used to measure how developed a country is, it includes components that do not contribute to a citizen's standard of living. GDP per capita may increase while real incomes for the majority decline. However, measuring only net take-home pay gives a more accurate picture of a country's standard of living. The tables show net income figures published annually in the OECD Tax Database.[12] They reflect the annual augmented total net take-home pay, by family-type, deducting taxes and non-tax compulsory payments. Since PPP conversion is a widely accepted way to compare income, the OECD publishes the data in USD PPPs. The two major family-types, married with two children and single with no child at 100% average wage have been selected to give an accurate picture of the wage levels.

Married with two children at 100% of average wage[13]

Rank Country 2015 net income
in USD PPP
1  Luxembourg 57,382
2   Switzerland 54,599
3  Australia 48,699
4  Germany 47,265
5  Norway 46,345
6  Belgium 44,177
7  United States 43,973
8  Austria 42,125
9  South Korea 41,951
10  United Kingdom 41,950
11  Ireland 41,163
12  Iceland 40,670
13  Netherlands 40,439
14  Denmark 40,223
15  Japan 39,750
16  Sweden 38,058
17  France 37,826
18  Canada 37,951
19  New Zealand 37,551
20  Finland 35,511
21  Spain 34,004
22  Italy 32,763
23  Greece 29,077
24  Israel 27,745
25  Slovenia 27,176
26  Portugal 25,464
27  Czech Republic 24,070
28  Estonia 22,582
29  Slovakia 20,440
30  Poland 20,505
31  Hungary 20,207
32  Turkey 19,231
33  Chile 15,710
34  Mexico 11,394

Single with no child at 100% of average wage[13]

Rank Country 2015 net income
in USD PPP
1   Switzerland 49,996
2  Norway 43,104
3  Australia 42,456
4  Luxembourg 42,100
5  South Korea 40,748
6  United Kingdom 39,381
7  Netherlands 38,116
8  United States 37,899
9  Germany 36,810
10  Japan 36,691
11  Sweden 35,067
12  Austria 34,869
13  Denmark 34,517
14  Iceland 34,248
15  Belgium 33,132
16  Ireland 32,976
17  Finland 32,805
18  France 32,762
19  New Zealand 32,558
20  Canada 31,968
21  Spain 31,037
22  Italy 27,808
23  Israel 26,796
24  Greece 25,927
25  Portugal 21,290
26  Slovenia 20,439
27  Estonia 19,203
28  Czech Republic 18,721
29  Turkey 18,793
30  Poland 18,626
31  Slovakia 16,748
32  Hungary 15,922
33  Chile 15,710
34  Mexico 11,394

Gallup median household and per-capita income

In 2013, Gallup published a list of countries with median per capita and household income.[14] Using median, rather than mean income, results in a much more accurate picture of the average income of the middle class since the data will not be skewed by gains and abnormalities in the extreme ends. The figures are in international dollars using purchasing power parity and are based on responses from at least 2,000 adults in each country, with the data aggregated from 2006 to 2012. Below is a list of the top 30 countries in each category.

Rank Country Household income
in USD PPP[14]
1  Luxembourg 52,493
2  Norway 51,489
3  Sweden 50,514
4  Australia 46,555
5  Denmark 44,360
6  United States 43,385
7  Canada 41,280
8  South Korea 40,861
9  Kuwait 40,854
10  Netherlands 38,584
11  New Zealand 35,562
12  Hong Kong 35,443
13  Austria 34,911
14  Finland 34,615
15  Japan 34,822
16  Germany 33,333
17  Taiwan 32,762
18  Singapore 32,360
19  United Kingdom 31,617
20  France 31,112
21  Israel 30,364
22  Belgium 26,703
23  Qatar 26,555
24  Slovenia 25,969
25  Ireland 25,085
26  Saudi Arabia 24,980
27  Bahrain 24,633
28  Czech Republic 22,913
29  Spain 21,959
30  Italy 20,085
Rank Country Per-capita income
in USD PPP[14]
1  Norway 19,308
2  Sweden 18,632
3  Luxembourg 18,418
4  Denmark 18,262
5  Finland 15,725
6  United States 15,480
7  Canada 15,181
8  Australia 15,026
9  Netherlands 14,450
10  Germany 14,098
11  France 12,445
12  United Kingdom 12,399
13  Austria 12,284
14  New Zealand 12,147
15  South Korea 11,350
16  Japan 10,840
17  Belgium 10,189
18  Hong Kong 9,705
19  Slovenia 8,656
20  Ireland 8,048
21  Israel 7,847
22  Czech Republic 7,821
23  Kuwait 7,487
24  Singapore 7,345
25  Spain 7,284
26  Taiwan 6,882
27  Italy 6,874
28  Malta 6,869
29  Greece 6,086
30  Portugal 5,519

Other lists of developed countries

Some institutions have produced lists of developed countries: the UN (list shown above), the CIA,[15] and some providers of stock market indices(the FTSE Group, MSCI, S&P, Dow Jones, STOXX, etc.). The latter is not included here because its association of developed countries with countries with both high incomes and developed markets is not deemed as directly relevant.[Note 3]

However many other institutions have created more general lists referred to when discussing developed countries. For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identifies 39 "advanced economies".[7][16] The OECD's 35 members are known as the "developed countries club"[17][18][19] The World Bank identifies 79 "high income countries".[20]

World Bank high-income economies

World Bank high-income economy map

According to the World Bank the following 79 countries (including territories) are classified as "high-income economies".[20] In parenthesis the year(s) during which they held such classification.[21]

IMF advanced economies

  Countries described as Advanced Economies by the IMF

According to the International Monetary Fund, the following 39 economies are classified as "advanced economies":[7]

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"[15] some smaller countries. These include:

High-income OECD members

There are 33 members in the High-income OECD category, as determined by the World Bank.[22][23] The High-income OECD membership is as follows:

25 countries in Europe:

3 countries in Asia:

3 countries in the Americas:

2 countries in Oceania:

Development Assistance Committee members

Member nations of the Development Assistance Committee

There are 29 members—28 selected OECD member countries and the European Union—in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC),[24] a group of the world's major donor countries that discuss issues surrounding development aid and poverty reduction in developing countries.[25] The following OECD member countries are DAC members:

22 countries wholly or partly in Europe:

2 countries in Asia:

2 countries in North America:

2 countries in Oceania:

Paris Club members

Permanent members of the Paris Club

There are 21 permanent members in the Paris Club (French: Club de Paris), a group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries.

15 countries wholly or partly in Europe:

3 countries in Asia:

2 countries in North America:

1 country in Oceania:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The official classification of "advanced economies" is originally made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF list doesn't deal with non-IMF members. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intends to follow IMF list but adds few economies which aren't dealt with by IMF due to their not being IMF members. By May 2001, the advanced country list of the CIA was more comprehensive than the original IMF list. However, since May 2001, three additional countries (Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia) have been added to the original IMF list, thus leaving the CIA list not updated.
  2. ↑ Namely sovereign states, i.e., excluding Macau: 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". The UNCTAD organisation (of the UN), as well as the CIA, classify Macau as a "developing" territory. The World Bank classifies Macau as a high income economy (along with developed economies as well as with few developing economies).
  3. ↑ The Developed Countries Glossary entry reads: "The following countries are classified by FTSE as developed countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium/Luxembourg, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong (People's Republic of China), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States."

References

  1. ↑ Developed Economy Definition. Investopedia (2010-04-16). Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  2. ↑ IMF GDP data (October 2015)
  3. ↑ "Gross domestic product, current prices & Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP". World Economic Outlook Database, October 2015. International Monetary Fund. October 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  4. ↑ Sachs, Jeffrey (2005). The End of Poverty. New York, New York: The Penguin Press. ISBN 1-59420-045-9.
  5. ↑ "Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings (footnote C)". United Nations Statistics Division. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  6. ↑ United Nations Statistics Division- Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49). Unstats.un.org. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  7. 1 2 3 IMF Advanced Economies List. World Economic Outlook, April 2016, p. 148
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Human Development Report 2015 – "Rethinking Work for Human Development"" (PDF). HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "2011中華民國人類發展指數 (HDI)" (PDF) (in Chinese). Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
  10. ↑ Macau in Figures, 2013
  11. ↑ Filling Gaps in the Human Development Index, United Nations ESCAP, February 2009
  12. ↑ OECD Tax Database
  13. 1 2 2015 OECD Tax Database, Tables 5 and 6 (updated 2016) shows information on (augmented) total labour costs, net take-home pay and the changes in total labour costs and net take-home pay as a result of employer and employee NTCPs.
  14. 1 2 3 http://www.gallup.com/poll/166211/worldwide-median-household-income-000.aspx
  15. 1 2 CIA (2008). "Appendix B. International Organizations and Groups.". World Factbook. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  16. ↑ World Economic Outlook, International Monetary Fund, September 2011, p. 165.
  17. ↑ http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no160/104.shtml
  18. ↑ Indiana Express
  19. ↑ Minutes of Forum #26:Global Strategy Series 2 - Japan as It Should Be (Outline) | Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. Esri.go.jp. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  20. 1 2 Country and Lending Groups. World Bank. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  21. ↑ "How does the World Bank classify countries?". World Bank. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  22. ↑ Country and Lending Groups | Data. Data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  23. ↑ "Members and partners". OECD. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  24. ↑ Peer reviews of DAC members - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Oecd.org. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  25. ↑ DAC website >> "The DAC in Dates", On the DAC's self-description, see the introductory letter. On other events, refer to the relevant section by date.
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