Developing Countries, Residents of

The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) ranks all country development based on three types of development indicators—income, health, and education. The developmental stage of all countries is defined by their gross national income (GNI) per capita per year. As specified by the World Bank (2012), countries with a GNI of US$11,905 or less are defined as developing. For practical purposes, countries that rank slightly over that amount will be considered a developing country until 2015, when their situation will be reviewed again.

According to the HDI, since the 1970s most developing countries have made great progress. The average shows an increase in over 40 percent overall and 60 percent for the lower-ranked quartile of developing countries. Some countries have moved out of the stage of ...