Editing Developing country (section)

== Terms used to classify countries ==

There are several terms used to classify countries into rough levels of development.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fialho |first1=Djalita |last2=Van Bergeijk |first2=Peter A. G. |title=The Proliferation of Developing Country Classifications |journal=[[The Journal of Development Studies]] |date=2017 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=99–115 |doi=10.1080/00220388.2016.1178383 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Classification of any given country differs across sources, and sometimes, these classifications or the specific terminology used is considered disparaging.

=== By income groups ===
[[File:High income economies as classified by the World Bank.png|thumb|right|A map of World Bank high-income economies in 2023|alt=|upright=1.6]]
The World Bank classifies the world's economies into four groups, based on [[gross national income]] per capita calculated using the [[Atlas method]], re-set each year on 1 July:<ref name=":9">{{cite web|title=New country classifications by income level: 2019–2020|url=https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-country-classifications-income-level-2019-2020|access-date=12 February 2021|publisher=World Bank Blogs |work=Data Blog |date=1 July 2019 |language=en|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107201418/https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-country-classifications-income-level-2019-2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

# low-income countries
# lower-middle income countries
# upper-middle income countries
# [[World Bank high-income economy|high income countries]] (similar to [[Developed country|developed countries]])

The three groups that are not "high income" are together referred to as "low and middle income countries" (LMICs). For example, for the 2022 fiscal year, a low income country is defined as one with a GNI per capita less than 1,045 in current US$; a lower middle-income country is one with GNI per capita between 1,046 and 4,095 in current US$; an upper middle-income country is one with GNI per capita between 4,096 and 12,695 in current US$, and a high income country is one with GNI per capita of more than 12,696 in current US$.<ref name=CountriesByGNIperCapita>{{cite web |url=https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups | title=World Bank Country and Lending Groups |website=World Bank Data Help Desk | accessdate=10 January 2022 | archive-date=28 October 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028223324/https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups | url-status=live }}</ref> [[World Bank high-income economy#Historical thresholds|Historical thresholds]] are documented.

=== By markets and economic growth ===
The use of the term "market" instead of "country" usually indicates a specific focus on the characteristics of the countries' financial support system as opposed to the overall economy.

* [[Developed country|Developed countries]] and [[developed market]]s
* Developing countries include in decreasing order of economic growth or size of the capital market:
** [[Newly industrialized country|Newly industrialized countries]]<ref name="Globalization">{{cite book|title=Globalization and the Transformation of Foreign Economic Policy | first = Paweł | last = Bożyk | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7546-4638-9|chapter=Newly Industrialized Countries}}</ref><ref name="Limits">{{cite book|title=The Limits of Convergence| first = Mauro F. | last = Guillén | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-691-11633-4|chapter=Multinationals, Ideology, and Organized Labor|author-link=Mauro F. Guillén}}</ref><ref name="AIA">{{cite book|title=Geography, An Integrated Approach|last=Waugh|first=David | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Nelson Thornes Ltd.|year=2000|isbn=978-0-17-444706-1|edition= 3rd|pages=563, 576–579, 633, and 640|chapter=Manufacturing industries (chapter 19), World development (chapter 22)}}</ref><ref name="Principles">{{cite book|title=Principles of Economics|last=Mankiw|first=N. Gregory | name-list-style = vanc |year=2007|publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-324-22472-6|edition= 4th}}{{pn|date=May 2025}}</ref> 
** [[Emerging markets]]
** [[Frontier markets]]
** [[Least developed country|Least developed countries]] (also called less economically developed country)
Under other criteria, some countries are at an intermediate stage of development, or, as the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) put it, following the [[fall of the Soviet Union]], "countries in transition": all those of [[Central and Eastern Europe]] (including Central European countries that still belonged to the "Eastern Europe Group" in the UN institutions); the former [[Soviet Union]] (USSR) countries in Central Asia ([[Kazakhstan]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]] and [[Turkmenistan]]); and [[Mongolia]]. By 2009, the IMF's [[World Economic Outlook]] classified countries as advanced, emerging, or developing, depending on "(1) per capita income level, (2) export diversification—so oil exporters that have high per capita GDP would not make the advanced classification because around 70% of its exports are oil, and (3) degree of integration into the global financial system".<ref>{{cite web|title=Q. How does the WEO categorize advanced versus emerging and developing economies?|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/faq.htm#q4b|access-date=20 July 2009|work=[[International Monetary Fund]]|archive-date=17 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417061830/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/faq.htm#q4b|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== By geography ===
Developing countries can also be categorized by geography:
* [[Small Island Developing States]] (a group of developing countries that are small [[island countries]] which tend to share similar [[sustainable development]] challenges: small but growing populations, limited resources, remoteness, susceptibility to [[natural disaster]]s, vulnerability to external shocks, excessive dependence on [[international trade]], and fragile environments).
* [[Landlocked developing countries|Landlocked Developing Countries]] ([[Landlocked country|landlocked countries]] often experience economic and other disadvantages)

=== By other parameters ===
* [[Heavily indebted poor countries]], a definition by a program of the IMF and World Bank
* [[Transition economy]], moving from a centrally planned to [[market-driven economy]]
* Multi-dimensional clustering system: with the understanding that different countries have different development priorities and levels of access to resources and institutional capacities<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Koch|first=Svea|name-list-style=vanc|date=1 June 2015|title=From Poverty Reduction to Mutual Interests? The Debate on Differentiation in EU Development Policy|journal=Development Policy Review|volume=33|issue=4|pages=479–502|doi=10.1111/dpr.12119|hdl=10419/199382 |doi-access=free|hdl-access=free}}</ref> and to offer a more nuanced understanding of developing countries and their characteristics, scholars have categorized them into five distinct groups based on factors such as levels of poverty and inequality, productivity and innovation, political constraints and dependence on external flows.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vázquez|first1=Sergio Tezanos|last2=Sumner|first2=Andy | name-list-style = vanc | date = December 2013 | title=Revisiting the Meaning of Development: A Multidimensional Taxonomy of Developing Countries|journal=The Journal of Development Studies|volume=49|issue=12|pages=1728–1745|doi=10.1080/00220388.2013.822071 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Taeihagh | first = Araz | name-list-style = vanc | title = Crowdsourcing, Sharing Economies and Development | journal = Journal of Developing Societies | volume = 33 | issue = 2 | year = 2017 | pages = 191–222 |doi=10.1177/0169796x17710072 | arxiv = 1707.06603 }}</ref>

=== By self declaration ===
In general, the WTO accepts any country's claim of itself being "developing." Certain countries that have become "developed" in the last 20 years by almost all economic metrics, still insist to be classified as "developing country," as it entitles them to a preferential treatment at the [[World Trade Organization|WTO]], countries such as [[Brunei]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Kuwait]], [[Macao]], [[Qatar]], [[Singapore]], and the [[United Arab Emirates]] have been cited and criticized for this self-declared status.<ref>{{cite web|date=26 July 2019|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|title=Memorandum on Reforming Developing-Country Status in the World Trade Organization.|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-reforming-developing-country-status-world-trade-organization|access-date=1 March 2021|archive-date=16 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216200055/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-reforming-developing-country-status-world-trade-organization/|url-status=live}}</ref>