Editing Developed country (section)

== Definition and criteria ==
Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is the income per capita; countries with the high [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) per capita would thus be described as developed countries. Another economic criterion is [[industrialisation]]; countries in which the [[tertiary sector of the economy|tertiary]] and [[quaternary sector of the economy|quaternary sectors of industry]] dominate would thus be described as developed. More recently, another measure, the [[Human Development Index]] (HDI), which combines an economic measure, national income, with other measures, indices for life expectancy and education has become prominent. This criterion would define developed countries as those with a very high (HDI) rating. The index, however, does not take into account several factors, such as the [[List of countries by wealth per adult|net wealth per capita]] or the relative [[Quality (business)|quality of goods]] in a country. This situation tends to lower the ranking of some of the most advanced countries, such as the [[Group of Seven|G7]] members and others.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R2D0AAAAMAAJ|title=The Courier|date=1994|publisher=Commission of the European Communities|language=en|access-date=20 January 2021|archive-date=15 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315205542/https://books.google.com/books?id=R2D0AAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/human-development-index/|title=Human development index|work=Economics Help|access-date=23 September 2018|language=en-GB|archive-date=17 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217215047/https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/human-development-index/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the [[United Nations Statistics Division]]:
<blockquote>There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the [[United Nations]] system.<ref name="unstated.un.org">{{cite web |title=Millennium Development Indicators: World and regional groupings |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/worldmillennium.htm |publisher=[[United Nations Statistics Division]] |date=2003 |at=Note b |access-date=13 May 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050210031555/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/worldmillennium.htm |archive-date=10 February 2005 }}</ref></blockquote>

And it notes that:
<blockquote>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.<ref name="unstats.un.org">{{cite web |title=Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49): Developed Regions |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm |publisher=[[United Nations Statistics Division]] |access-date=13 May 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711220015/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm |archive-date=11 July 2017 }}</ref></blockquote>

Nevertheless, the [[UN Trade and Development]] considers that this categorization can continue to be applied:
<blockquote>The developed economies broadly comprise Northern America and Europe, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.<ref name="UNCTADstat">{{cite web | url=https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/Classifications.html#:~:text=The%20developed%20economies%20broadly%20comprise,as%20Australia%20and%20New%20Zealand | title=UNCTADstat - Classifications | access-date=30 September 2022 | archive-date=6 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006081729/http://unctadstat.unctad.org/en/classifications.html#:~:text=The%20developed%20economies%20broadly%20comprise,as%20Australia%20and%20New%20Zealand | url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

=== Similar terms ===
{{See also|Global North and Global South}}
Terms linked to the concept ''developed country'' include "advanced country", "industrialized country", "more developed country" (MDC), "more economically developed country" (MEDC), "[[North–South divide in the World|Global North]] country", "[[First World|first world]] country", and "post-industrial country". The term industrialized country may be somewhat ambiguous, as [[industrialisation]] is an ongoing process that is hard to define. The first industrialized country was the [[United Kingdom]], followed by [[Belgium]]. Later it spread further to [[Germany]], [[United States]], [[France]] and other [[Western Europe]]an countries. According to some [[economist]]s such as [[Jeffrey Sachs]], however, the current divide between the developed and [[Developing country|developing world]] is largely a phenomenon of the 20th century.<ref name="The End of Poverty">{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Jeffrey |url=https://archive.org/details/endofpovertyecon0000sach |title=The End of Poverty |publisher=The Penguin Press |year=2005 |isbn=1-59420-045-9 |location=New York, New York |url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[Mathis Wackernagel]] calls the binary labeling of countries as "neither descriptive nor explanatory. It is merely a thoughtless and destructive endorsement of GDP fetish. In reality, there are not two types of countries, but over 200 countries, all faced with the same laws of nature, yet each with unique features."<ref name="Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget">{{cite book|last1=Wackernagel|first1=Mathis|url=https://www.newsociety.com/Books/E/Ecological-Footprint|title=Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget|last2=Beyers|first2=Bert|publisher=New Society Publishers|year=2019|isbn=978-0-86571-911-8|location=Gabriola Island, BC, Canada|page=132|author-link=Mathis Wackernagel|access-date=20 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230123431/https://www.newsociety.com/Books/E/Ecological-Footprint|archive-date=30 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2021 analysis proposes the term ''emerged'' to describe markets, economies, or countries that have graduated from [[emerging market]] status, but have not yet reached the level equivalent to developed countries.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Eun Su|last2=Liu|first2=Wei|last3=Yang|first3=Jing Yu|date=23 September 2021|title=Neither developed nor emerging: Dual paths for outward FDI and home country innovation in emerged market MNCs|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969593121001438|journal=International Business Review|volume=32 |issue=2 |language=en|page=101925|doi=10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101925|s2cid=244268711|issn=0969-5931}}</ref> Multinational corporations from these emerging markets present unique patterns of overseas expansion and knowledge acquisition from foreign countries.