Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/ADRA/Community Development/Developing

Those countries called developed or industrialized nations are those with common use of western medicine, wide systems of paved roads, structured education for children through adulthood, stable economies and governments, provide large portion international aid for developing nations, provide portions of international military assistance, commonly provide scientific advancement and fund scientific research, and the majority of whom's population lives out of poverty.

Developing nations are formerly known as third world countries. These nations are not stable in economy and government, often needing financial and military intervention for any form of stability. Some have no regular government in place that is fully recognized by the people of the country - for example Somalia and The Sudan. There is often ongoing civil war, little or no education opportunity, even in the most basic systems of living. There is limited access to medical assistance in these nations and they rely primarily on foreign aid in this aspect as they do all others. From the government to the people, they are often countries that have become total welfare states and are in fact not developing, but rather waiting for their next handout. They rely on Non-governmental Organizations (NGO's) and foreign nations for their survival. Those that are developing such as Kenya, suffer set backs in which they seek assistance such as a current (2006) widespread drought there but have a largely stable economy and government.

A developing country, also called a less-developed country, is a nation with a lower living standard, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. There is no universal, agreed-upon criterion for what makes a country developing versus developed and which countries fit these two categories, although there are general reference points such as a nation's GDP per capita compared to other nations. Also, the general term less-developed country should not be confused with the specific term least developed country.

There is criticism of the use of the term developing country. The term implies inferiority of a developing country or undeveloped country compared to a developed country, which many countries dislike.

All developed countries graduated from developing to developed at some point (recently Poland for example) or newly indutrialized, which is a country still not considered developed but no longer primarily agricultural and poor.