page_title: Developing country
section_title: Definitions
hierarchical_section_title: Developing country / Definitions
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of developing countries according to the IMF as of 2014Dark Green - developing according to the IMFLight Green - developing out of the scope of the IMFred - graduated to developedBlue - Newly industrialised countries
context_page_description: A developing country is a country with a less developed industrial base and a low Human Development Index relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreement on which countries fit this category. 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  There are controversies over the use of this term which some feel it is perpetuating an outdated concept of "us" and "them". 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 with present data aggregations for regions, and for income groups.
  The term "developing" describes a currently observed situation and not a changing dynamic or expected direction of progress. Since the late 1990s, developing countries tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than developed countries.
context_section_description: The UN acknowledges that it has "no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas". According to its so-called M49 standards, published in 1999:
  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.
  The UN implies that developing countries are those not on a tightly defined list of developed countries:
  There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United Nations system. In common practice, Japan in Asia, Israel in the Middle East, Canada and the United States in North America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and Europe are considered "developed" regions or areas. In international trade statistics, the Southern African Customs Union is also treated as a developed region and Israel as a developed country; countries emerging from the former Yugoslavia are treated as developing countries; and countries of eastern Europe and of the Commonwealth of Independent States [the former Soviet Union] in Europe are not included under either developed or developing regions.
  However, 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"
  Along with the current level of development, countries can also be classified by how much their level of development has changed over a specific period of time.
  In the 2016 edition of its World Development Indicators, the World Bank made a decision to no longer distinguish between "developed" and "developing" countries in the presentation of its data, considering the two-category distinction outdated. Instead, the World Bank classifies countries into four groups, based on Gross National Income per capita, re-set each year on July 1. In 2019, the four categories in US dollars were:
  Low income countries: $1,035 or less.
  Lower middle income countries: $1,036 to $4,045.
  Upper middle income countries: $4,046 to $12,535.
  High income countries: $12,535 or more
caption:   Developing economies according to the IMF   Developing economies out of scope of the IMF   Graduated to developed economy   Newly industrialized countries
   (As of 2014[update])[citation needed]
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