The 8 stages of development/the world economy

[eric82oslo]

Based on the CIA numbers of the Gross Domestic Product at Purchasing Power Parity Per Capita (GDPPPPPC) published by Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita), I've categorized each of the 196 nations of the world into 8 stages of development. CIA are using (their latest?) 2012 numbers. I haven't named the named each stage, but you could possibly imagine something like this: 1) Post-Modern/Technologically Superior 2) Highly Developed 3) Industrialized 4) Rapidly Developing 5) Still Developing 6) Underdeveloped 7) Stage of Garbage 8 ) (There's Something) Rotten
These are just silly suggestions lol, don't take it too seriously.

Anyways, let's get to the fine-printed details. And let's start with some statistics first. How many countries qualify for each stage? Most populous country in parenthesis. Well, let's see:

Stage 1: 7 countries (Singapore)
Stage 2: 35 countries (USA)
Stage 3: 35 countries (Russia)
Stage 4: 38 countries (China)
Stage 5: 29 countries (India)
Stage 6: 24 countries (Pakistan)
Stage 7: 19 countries (Ethiopia)
Stage 8: 8 countries (D.R. Congo)

In other words, all but 15 countries belong to the stages 2-7 and the vast majority are within stages 2-6 (162 out of 196 nations).

What about the different continents? For convenience and simplicity, I've simply added North and South America together into one huge continent. Where, or more precisely at which stage, do most countries on each continent belong? Let's see:

Asia: (49/50 countries)

Stage 1: 3
Stage 2: 9
Stage 3: 5 (6 with Russia)
Stage 4: 8
Stage 5: 11
Stage 6: 10
Stage 7: 3
Stage 8: 0

Europe: (45/46 countries)

Stage 1: 4
Stage 2: 20
Stage 3: 13 (14 with Turkey)
Stage 4: 7
Stage 5: 1
Stage 6: 0
Stage 7: 0
Stage 8: 0

Americas: (35 countries)

Stage 1: 0
Stage 2: 3 (USA, Canada, Bahamas)
Stage 3: 13
Stage 4: 13
Stage 5: 5
Stage 6: 0
Stage 7: 1 (Haiti)
Stage 8: 0

Pacific Ocean (Oceania) (13 countries)

Stage 1: 0
Stage 2: 2 (Australia, New Zealand)
Stage 3: 0
Stage 4: 4
Stage 5: 7
Stage 6: 0
Stage 7: 0
Stage 8: 0

Africa: (53 countries)

Stage 1: 0
Stage 2: 1 (Equatorial Guinea)
Stage 3: 4
Stage 4: 6
Stage 5: 5
Stage 6: 14
Stage 7: 15
Stage 8: 8

Now, let's have a look at the entire list, if you're curious to find out where your country or some near or distant nation is placed on the list...

--The 8 stages of development/the world economy (2012 numbers)--

Stage 1: (52,000-104,000$) [7 nations]

Asia:

1.   Qatar
2.   Singapore
3.   Brunei

Europe:

1.   Liechtenstein
2.   Luxembourg
3.   Monaco
4.   Norway

Stage 2: (26,000-52,000$) [35 nations]

Americas:

1.   USA
2.   Canada
3.   The Bahamas

Asia:

1.   United Arab Emirates
2.   Kuwait
3.   Taiwan
4.   Japan
5.   Israel
6.   South Korea
7.   Saudi Arabia
8.   Oman
9.   Bahrain

Europe:

1.   Switzerland
2.   Austria
3.   Netherlands
4.   Ireland
5.   Sweden
6.   Iceland
7.   Germany
8.   Belgium
9.   Denmark
10.   UK
11.   Andorra
12.   Finland
13.   San Marino
14.   France
15.   Spain
16.   Italy
17.   Slovenia
18.   Czech Republic
19.   Cyprus
20.   Malta

Pacific Ocean:

1.   Australia
2.   New Zealand

Africa:

1.   Equatorial Guinea

Stage 3: (13,000-26,000$) [35 nations]

Americas:

1.   Barbados
2.   Trinidad and Tobago
3.   Chile
4.   Argentina
5.   Antigua and Barbuda
6.   Saint Kitts and Nevis
7.   Uruguay
8.   Panama
9.   Mexico
10.   Dominica
11.   Grenada
12.   Venezuela
13.   Saint Lucia

Africa:

1.   Seychelles
2.   Botswana
3.   Gabon
4.   Mauritius

Europe:

1.   Greece
2.   Slovakia
3.   Portugal
4.   Estonia
5.   Lithuania
6.   Poland
7.   Hungary
8.   Latvia
9.   Croatia
10.   Russia
11.   Belarus
12.   (Turkey)
13.   Bulgaria
14.   Romania

Asia:

1.   (Russia)
2.   Malaysia
3.   Lebanon
4.   Turkey
5.   Kazakhstan
6.   Iran

Stage 4: (6,500-13,000$) [38 nations]

Americas:

1.   Costa Rica
2.   Suriname
3.   Brazil
4.   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
5.   Colombia
6.   Peru
7.   Cuba
8.   Ecuador
9.   Dominican Republic
10.   Jamaica
11.   Belize
12.   Guyana
13.   El Salvador

Africa:

1.   Libya
2.   South Africa
3.   Namibia
4.   Algeria
5.   Egypt
6.   Angola

Europe:

1.   Montenegro
2.   Macedonia
3.   Serbia
4.   Bosnia and Herzegovina
5.   Albania
6.   Kosovo
7.   Ukraine

Asia:

1.   Azerbaijan
2.   Thailand
3.   East Timor
4.   Maldives
5.   China
6.   Turkmenistan
7.   Iraq
8.   Bhutan

Pacific Ocean:

1.   Palau
2.   Marshall Islands
3.   Tonga
4.   Micronesia

Stage 5: (3,250-6,500$) [29 nations]

Pacific Ocean:

1.   Samoa
2.   Kiribati
3.   Vanuatu
4.   Nauru
5.   Fiji
6.   Solomon Islands
7.   Tuvalu

Americas:

1.   Paraguay
2.   Guatemala
3.   Bolivia
4.   Honduras
5.   Nicaragua

Asia:

1.   Sri Lanka
2.   Jordan
3.   Georgia
4.   Armenia
5.   Mongolia
6.   Indonesia
7.   Syria
8.   Philippines
9.   India
10.   Uzbekistan
11.   Vietnam

Africa:

1.   Swaziland
2.   Morocco
3.   Congo
4.   Cape Verde
5.   Ghana

Europe:

1.   Moldova

Stage 6: (1,625-3,250$) [24 nations]

Asia:

1.   Laos
2.   Pakistan
3.   Palestine (West Bank & Gaza)
4.   Papua New Guinea
5.   Cambodia
6.   Kyrgyzstan
7.   Tajikistan
8.   Yemen
9.   Bangladesh
10.   North Korea

Africa:

1.   Nigeria
2.   Djibouti
3.   Sudan
4.   Cameroon
5.   São Tomé and Príncipe
6.   Lesotho
7.   Mauritania
8.   Senegal
9.   Chad
10.   The Gambia
11.   Côte d'Ivoire
12.   Kenya
13.   Benin
14.   Zambia

Stage 7: (800-1,625$) [19 nations]

Africa:

1.   Tanzania
2.   Rwanda
3.   Burkina Faso
4.   Sierra Leone
5.   Uganda
6.   Comoros
7.   Ethiopia
8.   Mozambique
9.   Guinea-Bissau
10.   Mali
11.   Guinea
12.   Togo
13.   Madagascar
14.   South Sudan
15.   Malawi

Asia:

1.   Burma
2.   Nepal
3.   Afghanistan

Americas:

1.   Haiti

Stage 8: (400-800$) [8 nations]

Africa:
1.   Niger
2.   Eritrea
3.   Central African Republic
4.   Liberia
5.   Zimbabwe
6.   Somalia
7.   Burundi
8.   Democratic Republic of Congo

Hope you enjoyed this class on economic inequality/development in today's world.

[Franknburger]

Interesting grouping. How have you chosen the thresholds ? It seems you have always set the upper limit at 50% of the previous class' upper limit, right? I would, however, rather take the World Bank than the CIA data, as they have a more sophisticated method for currency conversion and PPP calculation. Yeah - I know - then you would have Norway at the same level as the US, not above ...

As your list is composed now, I would rather call stage 1 "Lucky islands", because their wealth is primarily  related to small geographical size and/or oil resources,  technology at best plays a secondary role, if at all. Stages 4&5 are roughly corresponding to what is commonly called "Newly industrialized country", so "still developing" is a bit harsh for Stage 5. Indonesia, e.g., has from 2004 to 2012 increased its GNI/ capita (PPP) by almost 75%, which is an extremely rapid development. You anyway might want to add some growth dynamic to your classification (check out data here, and have them mapped online), Otherwise, stage names that imply dynamics ("developing") should be replaced by static ones ("low to medium developed"). When you consider dynamics, Ethiopia (Stage 7), e.g., is anything but in a stage of garbage - GNI per capita has more than doubled since 2004. "Unused potential" might be a better heading for that stage.

 I however, agree, that there is definitely something rotten in Stage 8 countries (actually "Too many swords, too few ploughshares" might also be a fitting descriptor).

[palandio]

For most parts of the world these categories sound convincing, though I would prefer names like 4) Average development, 5) Below-average development 7) Heavy underdevelopment. I have some remarks though:

1. You assume development to be economic development. There is a strong correlation between economic development and the general standard of living, but this does not hold for all countries.

2. The average wealth is normally higher than the wealth of the median person, it depends how much higher.

3. For some resource-dependent economies you could even question whether extracting resources and selling them has anything to do with economic development. That is, the rest of the economy is still running in State of Garbage mode.

This critic isn't aimed at countries like Norway, Singapore etc.
A very striking example would be Equatorial Guinea: Some despote selling oil to the world living in luxury, with the rest of the country being in a worse shape than many of its neighbors.

[Peeperkorn]

GDP PPA is useless for measuring development. For example you put Uruguay, Argentina and Chile in the same group of Mexico....that's like Massachusetts in the same group of West Virginia.

The better way is HDI with Gini correction.

[eric82oslo]

For most parts of the world these categories sound convincing, though I would prefer names like 4) Average development, 5) Below-average development 7) Heavy underdevelopment. I have some remarks though:

1. You assume development to be economic development. There is a strong correlation between economic development and the general standard of living, but this does not hold for all countries.

2. The average wealth is normally higher than the wealth of the median person, it depends how much higher.

3. For some resource-dependent economies you could even question whether extracting resources and selling them has anything to do with economic development. That is, the rest of the economy is still running in State of Garbage mode.

This critic isn't aimed at countries like Norway, Singapore etc.
A very striking example would be Equatorial Guinea: Some despote selling oil to the world living in luxury, with the rest of the country being in a worse shape than many of its neighbors.

Absolutely agree with everything you say. Equatorial Guinea is the prime example really. Almost no population at all, extreme natural (oil) resources.