Developing country

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  Developed countries

  Developing countries

  Least developed countries

  Data unavailable

Classifications by the IMF and the UN

World map representing Human Development Index categories (based on 2018 data, published in 2019).

  0.800–1.000 (very high)   0.350–0.549 (low)

  0.700–0.799 (high)   Data unavailable

  0.550–0.699 (medium)

A developing country (or a low and middle-income country (LMIC), less developed

country, less economically developed country (LEDC), medium-industrialized
country or underdeveloped country) is a country with a less developed industrial
base (industries) and a low Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries.
[1]
 However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreement on
which countries fit this category.[2][3] A nation's GDP per capita, compared with other nations, can
also be a reference point. In general, the United Nations accepts any country's claim of itself
being "developing".
There are controversies over this term's use, which some feel perpetuates an outdated concept
of "us" and "them".[4] In 2015, the World Bank declared that the "developing/developed world
categorization" is becoming less relevant and that they will phase out the use of that descriptor.
Instead, their reports will present data aggregations for regions and income groups.[3][5]
The term "developing" describes a currently observed situation and not a changing dynamic or
expected progress direction. Since the late 1990s, developing countries tended to demonstrate
higher growth rates than developed countries.[6]
Developing countries tend to have some characteristics in common. For example, with regards
to health risks, they commonly have: low levels of access to safe drinking
water, sanitation and hygiene; energy poverty; high levels of pollution (e.g. air pollution, indoor
air pollution, water pollution); high proportion of people with tropical and infectious diseases
(neglected tropical diseases); a high number of road traffic accidents; and generally
poor infrastructure. Often, there is also widespread poverty, low education levels, inadequate
access to family planning services, many informal settlements, corruption at all government
levels, and a lack of so-called good governance. Global warming (climate change) is expected
to impact developing countries more than wealthier countries, as most of them have a high
"climate vulnerability".[7]
The Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations were set up to help overcome many
of these problems. Development aid or development cooperation is financial aid given by
governments and other agencies to support developing countries' economic, environmental,
social, and political development…