Newly Industrialized Countries (NICS)

As the name implies, newly industrialized countries or NICs are generally understood to be those countries that have in the past few decades transitioned their economies from being primarily agricultural to newly industrialized. The economies of these countries are not as advanced as those of the developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Western European states. However, they are more advanced than those of the so-called undeveloped or Third World countries. NIC is a socioeconomic term applied to countries that derive a significant portion of their national income from the goods-producing sector, which consists of industries associated with manufacturing, construction, and mining operations.

NICs began to be recognized in the 1970s when countries such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan underwent rapid ...