Underdevelopment

Summary of Underdevelopment

A condition in which a nation’s per capita real income is significantly below that enjoyed in the industrialized world, and where national income is inadequate to provide the investment capital essential to expand the economy. In addition, most underdeveloped nations have heavy dependence upon agriculture, with antiquated farming methods and low productivity; high birth rates; significant illiteracy; political instability and high levels of governmental corruption; only a few key export products, usually primary products or low-value manufactures; and limited industrial infrastructure (e.g., railroads, highways, and electrical generating and transmissions capacity). Most underdeveloped nations have coalesced into a loose bloc in order to stimulate a redistribution of wealth from the industrialized countries. This group is known commonly as the Third World (read this and related legal terms for further details).

See Group of Seventy-Seven.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)

Resources

Hierarchical Display of Underdevelopment

Economics > Economic conditions > Economic development
Economics > Economic policy > Economic policy > Development policy