We explain what a developing country is, its characteristics and examples. Also, what are the causes of underdevelopment.
What is a developing country?
According to Development Theory, developing countries are known as those nations that have economies with high levels of poverty, foreign dependence and predominantly extractive and agricultural economic activities.
Another characteristic of developing countries is their high population growth, since the birth rate and fertility rate (that is, number of children per woman) are usually much higher than in developed countries.
Furthermore, the scarcity of resources of the governments of developing countries has an impact on the quality of educational and health services. This impacts the quality of life of the majority of the population, who cannot access a good education or medical treatments when they need them. For this reason, social indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality in these countries usually show worse levels than the world averages.
In environmental terms, Developing countries do not usually present good indicators either. This is because the majority of large companies, which belong to the powers, carry out their most polluting economic activities in peripheral countries, as these have more flexible environmental legislation, which produces great ecological and environmental deterioration.
Criticisms of the name: Currently, the use of “low-income countries” or “peripheral” is preferred to refer to nations that are in this economic situation. Thus, the term is prevented from being stigmatizing or conveying the idea that if these countries follow the path of the developed countries, they will finally achieve the desired economic growth. This idea is highly debated, since many theorists maintain that the most advanced countries were able to develop thanks to the economic and political domination over the less developed countries.
Characteristics of developing countries
Although these criteria may vary depending on the source consulted, in general the following characteristics are attributed to developing countries:
- They are countries with high levels of poverty.
- They have extractive and agricultural economies, with a strong dependence on external markets.
- They usually have a high population growth rate.
- They have education and health indicators below the world average.
- They present high levels of environmental pollution.
- They have great social inequality, with a rich elite and most of the population poor.
Causes of underdevelopment
Underdevelopment is a complex phenomenon that originates from multiple historical, economic, political and social factors. Historically, colonialism and the imperialist expansion of European powers in the 19th and 20th centuries established structures of domination and exploitation that persisted after decolonization.
Thus, the colonized countries were forced to orient their economies towards the production of raw materials for European markets, which prevented the development of local industries.
On the other hand, developing countries They usually find themselves in a position of economic subordination since in general the export of raw materials has a lower value than the manufactured products that must be imported. In addition, they depend on the variation in international prices and are more vulnerable to climate changes, droughts or floods that can affect their production.
Another factor of underdevelopment is related to social inequalities: the wealth of these countries is usually concentrated in the hands of a minority elite, and the lack of access to basic services such as education, health and housing for the majority of the population perpetuates cycles of poverty and exclusion.
Examples from developing countries
Some of the countries traditionally considered “developing” are:
- Niger
- Gabon
- Mozambique
- Kenya
- Ethiopia
- Madagascar
- Burkina Faso
- South Sudan
- Zambia
- Lesotho
- Bangladesh
- Haiti
- Ivory Coast
- Republic of Congo
- Angola
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References
- Gil, A and García C. (2018). The center-periphery theory. The World Order. https://elordenmundial.com/
- Latin American Institute of Graduate Studies. (2022). developing countries. What are they? https://www.ilep.mx/
- Moreno, P. (2021) What is the human development index and how is it measured? The World Order. https://elordenmundial.com/
- Sunkel, O. (1970). Latin American underdevelopment and development theory. 21st century. https://repositorio.cepal.org/
