essay about developing nations

119 Developing Countries Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best developing countries topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on developing countries, 📌 most interesting developing countries topics to write about, ❓ questions about developing countries.

• Three Biggest Problems in the Developing Country-Ghana Education about AIDs in Ghana has helped to reduce the spread of the virus, which has consequently improved the lifestyle of many people living in the country.
• Modernization Theory and Developing Countries Proponents of modernization theory believe that the introduction of modern technology in manufacturing, technology and agriculture will lead to industrialization and development of the developing countries. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Tourism Contribution to the Developing Countries Development The money may be used to pay the workers at the tourism sites, construct good roads to the parks, provide environmental friendly recreational facilities inside the park and educate the people in the park surroundings […]
• Nestlé’s Ethical Issues in Developing Countries In this case, the ethical elements of the operations pose questions about the motives of such corporations, which results in displeasure to the greatest majority.
• Is India Still A Developing Country? The second reason is that due to the problems with employment, the project of development does not meet the expectations and entails a range of other failures.
• Impacts of Multinational Corporations (MNC) Involvement in Developing Countries MNCs contribute to the improvement of economies of the emerging states in different ways. MNCs also contribute to the improvement of social and development needs of the developing nations.
• The Similarity Between Developing Countries: Africa, Asia and South America These divisions fault line is across the social, economic, and politics of the country. This is the major cause of poverty and under development in these countries.
• Nike Company Analysis in Developing Countries Nike’s vision is to remain the “leading company in the industry by continuing to produce the high quality products that have long been provided in the past”.
• Common Characteristics of Developing Countries Indeed, this is evident from the high number of slums and informal settlements within these nations. This is because the environment is the main source of food and other crucial resources.
• Education in Developing Countries Political independence brought young countries harsh difficulties including the problems with education; Children in such countries do not have access to high-quality education due to the poor technological, social, and economic development.
• Health Problems in Developing Countries Obeng-Odoom provides a debatable issue in terms of ‘NGOisation,’ privatization, and state strengthening of the health system to remedy the problems that exist in the sector.
• The Third World: Concept and Controversy The Third World, which is popularly referred to the countries of the south or developing countries, consists of many states in Africa, Caribbean, South America, Asia, and those in Central America.
• Causes of Corruption in Africa’s Developing Countries Corruption is the leading cause of underdevelopment and challenging economic conditions in Africa’s developing countries. Finally, legal and media institutions lack the freedom to practice justice and expose corruption.
• Hypertension in Developing Countries The article was received from the National Library of Medicine, demonstrating the credibility of the source. The second article is by Rovesti et al, and it explores a broader subject – the concept of health […]
• Public Health Outcomes for Women Experiencing Violence in Developing Countries The aim of this study is to determine risk factors and implications that violence against women has in developing world. The question for this research is: what type of factors can put women at a […]
• Health Inequalities in the Developing Countries Health inequalities refer to the variation of the health status among the members of society. Age is one of the essential determinants of the differences in the health situation of the members of society.
• Internationalization Process of Firms From Developing Country The systematization of the approach to the provision of related services is one of the successful strategies of IAID. According to Alyafei, the success of many Qatari SMEs is attributed to the efficient allocation of […]
• Birth Rates in Developed and Developing Countries Developed countries such as the United States and Australia have the same fertility rate of 1. Thus, the current paper tested a hypothesis concerning birth rate levels in developed and developing countries.
• Birth Rate in Developed and Developing Countries Since developing countries are often countries with a low standard of living, there is a problem of reducing the birth rate.
• Central Banks in Developed and Developing Countries In the course of the evolution of the world economy, the central bank has become the prevailing type of monetary authority worldwide.
• Why Developing Countries Sign BITs The main advantage of bilateral investment treaties is that if the host state is alleged to breach the BIT, the investor does not need to ask the government to accept a claim.
• Labor Rights in Developing Countries Moreover, the Western companies have to be exemplary in their respect for the rights of the employees and promote ethical standards throughout all the stages of production of its goods and services.
• Entrepreneurial Activities in a Developing Country The article by Eijdenberg et al.aims to fill the gap in the literature concerned with entrepreneurs’ individual experiences and responses to institutional constraints to entrepreneurship.
• The Third World Countries: Development and Communication This paper examines the problems that prevent the development of the third world countries and the reasons why the western countries continue to progress on the other hand.
• How Would Debt Relief for Developing Countries Improve Their Situation? Lending windows have been introduced through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust which became effective in January 2010: the Extended Credit Facility, the Standby Credit Facility, and the Rapid Credit Facility.
• Management Accounting and Control: Micro-Businesses Issues in Developing Countries In that regard, it can be stated that the topics discussed in the article, either outlining the necessity for knowledge, providing the overview of the usage of this type of knowledge on the individual and […]
• Entrepreneurial Intention in Developing Countries From this table, one can see which of the concepts are found to be the most beneficial for the entrepreneurial intention in developing countries, and which barriers are the most detrimental.
• “Why Do Developing Countries Tax So Little?” by Besley and Persson The present paper offers a response to the article by discussing the major strengths and weaknesses of the arguments provided in the article and describing the implications of the findings.
• Clean Water Change the Lives of People in Developing Countries The first one is from Africa which is considered to be the most afflicted region in the world when it is referred to the issue of having the access to clean water and to any […]
• Development Programs Effectiveness in the Third World Countries The foundation of this critique is the disillusionment regarding the effectiveness of the development programs offered to the third world countries in earlier periods.
• The Problem of Developing Countries Access to the WTO Dispute Settlement In his article, Najah Hassan Salamah has reviewed the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the WTO and whether the decision to join the organization was right for the economy of the state.
• War and Poverty Connection in Developing Countries The scholars claim that conflict and war in most nations have been found to exacerbate the rate of poverty in the affected nations.
• Pneumococcal Vaccines Markets in Developing Countries The main concern, however, remains to be the high cost of vaccines in the third world market. In other words, the capacity of production of pneumococcal vaccines is relatively high compared to the developing countries.
• Public Administration Role in Developing Countries: Mozambique The article has been keen to mention that, today, it is the overall duty for all the economists, accountants and even the dealing with public administration, especially with debt management and forecasting to come up […]
• Pricing AIDS Drugs Sold to Developing Countries The majority of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases are in Africa particularly the sub-Saharan and many of the infected have been faced with a huge challenge to live a normal life due to limitations in access […]
• Is Poverty From Developing Countries Imagined? That is why concepts like the “Third World Countries”, the “Second World Countries”, the “First World Countries” and now the “Developing Countries” has been coined.
• Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System for Developing Countries Knowledge of the impact and use of GIS is vital, and the most important in the application and understanding of GIS in traditional disciplines.
• Business in Developing Countries: India A number of studies have concluded that business is able to guarantee India and other South Asian countries the proper level of development; however, there exist certain pros and cons of business getting involved in […]
• Economic Growth & Developing Countries Sponsorship of trademarks will help the general public identifying the owner of goods in the market as also the availability of goods and services in the market and can protect people against false practices.
• Changes in World Trade Patterns of Developing Countries This is the rationale that explains the change in the trade pattern of developing countries. India is often showcased with regards to the trend of exporting and outsourcing of services, notably in IT.
• Micro-Credit Analysis in Several Developing Countries There are several countries who make use of micro-credit in their homeland and are improving their economic conditions with the help of their people.
• Women in Developing Countries: Globalization, Liberalization, and Gender Equality Owing to issues of gender, the voices of women in developing countries are never heard when it comes to the creation of trade agreements and policies or in their negotiations.
• The Pharmaceutical Industry and the AIDS Crisis in Developing Countries One of the reasons of this difference is that excise and custom duties that are responsible for the unaffordable prices of medicines have been avoided by the developed countries by the creation of pharmaceutical industries, […]
• Potentials for Tourism in Developing Countries Hence the enhancement of the tourism industry in the developing countries will enable these people to earn their living from this industry.
• Sociology of Mexico as a Developing Country It borders the Pacific Ocean on the west and south, on the north is the United States; on the east, it borders the Gulf of Mexico.
• Small & Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries In almost all the developed and developing countries, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises rely on local skills and technology and contribute to the establishment and maintenance of entrepreneurship.
• Economic Growth Damage in Developing Countries During the creation of the European single currency, the EMU left the fiscal policy to the individual member states. Subsidization of agricultural products in developed countries leads to overproduction and thus affecting the trade cycle.
• Microfinance for Sustainability in Developing Countries To know whether microfinance institutions contribute to the alleviation of poverty in a poor society. To find out how microfinance institutions lead to the establishment of small businesses by poor individuals in society.
• Risks of Globalization in Developing Countries The presence of an educated populace in western countries is credited with developing creative business solutions that have helped to expand their country’s economies.
• Human Rights of Poor in Developing Countries Their interactions with those in authority and the decision makers in the society have been marred with many obstacles and denied the rights to freedom of speech and expression that is being enjoyed by the […]
• Economic Growth and Land Reform in Developing Countries The most common land reform approach is state-controlled land reforms where the state seeks to promote land redistribution to contribute to the socio-economic development of a country.
• Green Economy Transition for Developing Countries It emphasizes the fact that such an alteration is advantageous for them because it allows for the enhancement of the living conditions of the population when other practices turn out to be ineffective.
• Infant Feeding in Developing Countries Gibson, Ferguson, and Lehrfeld carried out this research in developing nations with the view of assessing the nutrient and energy sufficiency in various complementary foods given to children during winning period.
• Energy Poverty Elimination in Developing Countries Responding to the article by Sagar, I would like to emphasize that the establishment of a special fund to assist the mentioned countries in alleviating energy poverty is a feasible idea.
• E-Commerce Barriers in Developing Countries This proposal outlines the model of developing research paper on the assessment of e-commerce barriers, which prevent the advance of information technologies in the countries of the ‘Third World.’ Thus, the proposed research paper will […]
• Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries The major factors that affect the management of waste in cities in developing nations are an ever-increasing quantity of waste generated, overburdened municipal resources because of the increased cost of waste management, and insufficient understanding […]
• International Advertising’ Effects in Developing Countries International advertising has come with its positive and negative effects in the developing countries that range from social and economic to the political state of developing nations. The major aim of international advertising is to […]
• National Identity Cards in Developing Countries The proposed research study will seek to assess the loopholes that exist in the system for registered citizens in developing countries, particularly, in relation to financial infusion, insecurity, and terrorism, with a view of categorizing […]
• Economic Principles for Developing Countries The third principle that can help a developing country to facilitate the development of its economy is attention to small business.
• Sustainable Democracy in Developing Countries However, the sustainability of such states is dependent on a variety of factors such as the efficiency of the government and economic development of a country; to a great extent, the future of these democracies […]
• Technologies Effects in Developing Countries In the given paper, the positive and the negative effects of the newest technologies in developing countries are compared in order to consider the possible outcomes of the future advances and come up with the […]
• Mali as a Developing Country In the last five years, the government of Mali has endeavored to improve the northern part of the country through road construction.
• Property Tax Role in a Developing Country In the light of this view, this paper discusses the role of property tax to in helping a developing nation to attain the goals of encouraging capital formation, increase the rates of savings of its […]
• European Union and Developing Countries Due to the dynamics in the globe regarding development projects as well as aspects of priority in several countries, the EU has had to change its development policies over the years.
• Openness and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries As the author puts it, the conventional wisdom theory that was developed from the experience of the East Asian countries in the 1960s argues that increased openness to trade particularly in the developing countries increases […]
• How do Migration and Urbanization Bring About Urban Poverty in Developing Countries? When there is a high rate of rural to urban migration, there is pressure on the limited resources in the urban centers.
• The Impact of Internationalization on Developing Countries Consequently, the economies of developing countries are at the mercy of the dollar. As a result, the economies of these countries are stretched due to overspending on these goods.
• Censorship of Social Networking Sites in Developing Countries Censorship of social media sites is the control of information that is available to users. The aim of this paper was to discuss censorship of social media sites in third world countries.
• International Economy is Seen as Limiting Developing Countries’ Interests Alongside the creation of the huge gulf between developed and developing nations, the international economy seeks to limit the dominance of individual nations.
• Childhood Obesity in Developing Countries – A Global Health Issue Childhood Obesity and the Globe As mentioned earlier, according to the data of WHO, the number of obese children in the world today is more than 42 million, and the vast majority of them are […]
• Globalization Impacts on Developed and Developing Countries Hak-Min diverges from the analysis of Brittan that the allocation of profits between industrialized and countries of the periphery has befall less distorted by demonstrating that globalization in the incorporated global financial system has directed […]
• Methodologies and Principles of Project Management in Developing Countries I feel that despite the opening of doors welcome the principles of free and competitive market forces to drive the economic policies that aim at orienting the economies in the developing world, challenges persists in […]
• Judicial Corruption in Developing Countries It originates from the judges and lawyers who are at the center of the legal systems in Africa. There is a lingering culture of impunity in African leadership that is the primary cause of corruption.
• Globalization Negative Effects: Developed and Developing Countries The aim of this article is to assess the assertion that the negative effects of globalization impact developing countries more than developed countries.
• What Affects Migration Patterns in Developing Countries The fiscal situation of various high income countries presents either positive or negative impacts to the developing countries and the world economy at large for instance the market instability present in most of the European […]
• Sustainable Economic Future in Developing Countries Use of appropriate technology such as use of energy efficient modes of industrial production will reduce energy use in production thus cut back on energy use, which is a significant factor of environmental degradation through […]
• Environmental Policy Making in Developing Countries The country’s environment is one of the richest in the world because of not only the flora and fauna, but also because of its ecosystems, which contain an excess of 15 % of the plant […]
• Syria as a Developing Country The country of Syria “is an Asian country located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan and Palestine to the south, the Mediterranean Sea […]
• Tourism Growth in Developing Countries In terms of social life, tourism is highly regarded as a sector that has the ability to engage people and promote good relations.
• Poverty Indicators in Developing Countries It was chosen by the World Bank for use in determining the poverty rates of poor countries. Poor countries are given first considerations in programming and implementing of the World Bank’s projects.
• Effects of Globalization on Developed and Developing Countries The economic development in the Asian states in the early 21st century led to a decrease in the distorted allocation of profits between urbanized and emerging economies.
• Developed Countries and Developing Countries Interrelations The disparity in development has led to the grouping of the world states in to two broad groups i.e.developed countries and developing countries.
• Impact of Free Trade in Developing Countries Statement of the problem There are no clear data and information to coin to the impact of free trade on developing countries.
• Horizontal Inequalities, Political Environment and Civil Conflict: Evidence From 55 Developing Countries The author evaluates the tendency of conflicts at ethnic, religious and regional levels due to the effect of factors such as the type of regime and political alienation.
• Providing a Financial Aid to the Third World Countries One of the reasons why, during the course of the late 20th century, it became a commonplace practice among ‘progressive’ politicians in the West to advocate the idea of aid, is that during this time […]
• Dualistic Labour Market in Developing Countries It disapproves the dualistic labour market assumptions by reviewing the informal and formal labour markets of the developing countries and the inefficiencies that operate in these markets.
• Dementia Life Expectancy: Developed vs. Developing Countries Analysis of Economic Aspects Influencing the Lifespan of People with Dementia in Developing and Developed Countries On the one hand, the previously discussed studies point to the direct influence of age on life of people […]
• Urbanisation Provides Potential Socio-Economic Benefits for Developing Countries Towns and cities in developing countries become the centres of the social and economic progress because of the concentration of the maximum of the necessary forces in urban territories.
• Water Quality Issues in Developing Countries According to WHO, the quality of drinking water is a foundation for the prevention and control of waterborne ailments, thus water quality is a critical environmental determinant of health for populations using the water.
• Are Foreign Aid and Remittances a Hedge Against Food Price Shocks in Developing Countries?
• Has China De-industrialized Other Developing Countries?
• Does Competition Improve Productivity in Developing Countries?
• Can Climate Finance Contribute to Gender Equity in Developing Countries?
• Are Labor Markets Segmented in Developing Countries?
• How Does Climate Change Impact Food Availability in Developing Countries?
• Can Developing Countries Benefit From Strategic Export Promotion?
• Are Patent Laws Harmful to Developing Countries?
• What Is the Relationship Between Developed and Developing Countries?
• Can Higher Education Reduce Inequality in Developing Countries?
• Does Globalization Benefit Both Developed and Developing Countries?
• Are Public Investment Efficient in Creating Capital Stocks in Developing Countries?
• Can High-Inequality Developing Countries Escape Absolute Poverty?
• How Does Capitalism Influence the Debt of Developing Countries?
• Did Chinese Outward Activity Attenuate or Aggravate the Great Recession in Developing Countries?
• Can Latest Tech Be Appropriate for Developing Countries?
• Does Agriculture Really Matter for Economic Growth in Developing Countries?
• How Do European Policies Impact Developing Countries?
• Can Market Potential Explain Regional Disparities in Developing Countries?
• What Can European Experience Teach Developing Countries About Integration?
• Does Health Insurance Decrease Health Expenditure Risk in Developing Countries?
• Can Small Developing Countries Survive in a Globalized Environment?
• Does Infrastructure Alleviate Poverty in Developing Countries?
• Why Are Developing Countries Growing Faster Than Developed Countries?
• Can Micro Loans Help Reduce Poverty in Developing Countries?
• Does Migration Support Technology Diffusion in Developing Countries?
• Can Public Management Contribute to Governance in Developing Countries?
• What Is the Fastest Developing Country in Europe?
• Does Tourism Bring More Benefits Than Drawbacks to Developing Countries?
• Could Developing Countries Take the Benefit of Globalization?
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80 Developing Countries Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on developing countries, ✍️ developing countries essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting developing countries research titles, 💡 simple developing countries essay ideas.

• Homelessness and Poverty in Developed and Developing Countries
• Is Globalization a Threat or an Opportunity to Developing Countries?
• Impacts of Globalization on the Developing Countries
• Developing Countries Foreign Aid
• Globalization’s Role for Developing Countries: Zambia
• Environmental Issues in the Third World Countries
• Can Developing Countries Catch Up to Developed Countries
• Urbanization and Developing Countries Urbanization takes a wide scope because of its effects on the economic, social, political systems’ organization of a nation, more especially on urban centers.
• Stealing Africa: How Rich Companies Benefit from the Developing Countries The Stealing Africa movie’s thesis is that multinational companies like Glencore are stealing from African countries and damaging countries’ economics and the environment.
• Medical Research in Developing Countries This critique will consider three articles on the subject of medical research in developing countries and examine the concerns raised by the authors on participant safety.
• Corruption in Developing Countries – a Cultural Phenomenon This paper analyzes the way corruption has penetrated societies in developing countries, the factors and how they have combined to influence corruption in developing countries.
• Companies Outsourcing in Developing Countries The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that motivate or stop companies from outsourcing their production in developing countries.
• Should Aid to Developing Countries Be Stopped? The tragedy in aid business is when the very purpose of aid is construed in a way that does not only cause economic instability but environmental degradation as well.
• Measures to Counter Workplace Abuse in Developing Countries This paper discusses the main measures to counter workplace abuse in developing countries such as laws and regulations, social reforms, and the role of western countries in this issue.
• Problems of Democratic Consolidation in Developing Countries The paper argues developing countries pursuing economic and political heights should strive to consolidate democratic forces.
• Causes of Corruption in Africa’s Developing Countries The major goal of this research project is to contribute to the solution of the problem of bribes and kickbacks in corporations that create a significant corruption challenge.
• Governance and Corruption in Developing Countries This research paper examines the problem of corruption in developing countries and the role of governance in countering corruption.
• Globalization Challenges in Developing Countries and Japan The participation of nations in global trade has several benefits, even though various problems impede countries from accessing global markets.
• Developing Countries’ Transformation Factors It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that many citizens of developing countries await their transformation into universalistic welfare states.
• Impacts of Political Risks and Institutional Environment on FDI Levels in Developing Countries This study aims at establishing which of the factors has the most significant impact on FDI flows in developing countries.
• Improving Hand Hygiene in Developing Countries The completed review and assessment of the research article indicate that the study presentation lacks details and explanations.
• Poverty and Covid-19 in Developing Countries In response to the pandemic, countries recommended and enforced policies on social distancing and shelter-in-place.
• Improving Disease Surveillance in Developing Countries The Kenya Medical Research Institute and the WHO argue that malaria kills about 50,000 annually. Children and expectant women are at the greatest risks of malaria infections
• Modern Energy Technologies Introduction to Developing Countries The ultimate goal of this marketing strategy would be to make new sources of energy affordable and attractive, not only to people but also to the government and local investors.
• Countering Workplace Abuse in Developing Countries Social reforms are part of the strategy of improvement for developing countries, which must make investments in safety nets for unemployed workers.
• Ethical Issues in Marketing Infant Formulas in Developing Countries Particular ethical issues that should be considered in this case include heath issues and the cost of the products.
• Personalism and Patrimonialism in Developing Countries Personalism implies the presence of a charismatic leader, who can enhance the authority of the ruling power or the whole state. Patrimonialism is another form of autocratic power.
• Issue for Farmers in Developing Countries Agriculture is a very important sector in the whole world economy since it makes available, food to every living person.
• Globalization Effect on Developing Countries’ Business The objective of this study is to show how globalization can benefit a particular nation. This objective is implemented by considering a developing economy that is Nigeria.
• Healthcare Programs in the Developing Countries The paper studies healthcare programs solving the health crises in the developing countries: their cost-effectiveness, financially sustainability and challenges.
• Achieving Sustainable Development Within Developing Countries
• Implementing Policy Reforms in Developing Countries
• Adapting the WTO Trade Policy Reviews to the Needs of Developing Countries
• Can Denmark’s Flexicurity System Be Replicated in Developing Countries?
• Behavior, Environment, and Health in Developing Countries: Evaluation and Valuation
• Adjustment, Investment, and the Real Exchange Rate in Developing Countries
• Demand for Telecommunication Services in Developing Countries
• Beyond Poverty Escapes: Social Mobility in Developing Countries
• Manufacturing and Economic Growth in Developing Countries, 1950-2005
• Capital Controls and Monetary Policy in Developing Countries
• Openness, Economic Reforms, and Poverty: Globalization in Developing Countries
• Affordable, Quality Education for Developing Countries
• Bilateral Relationship Between Technological Changes and Income Inequality in Developing Countries
• Economic and Welfare Impacts of Climate Change on Developing Countries
• Aid, Agriculture, and Poverty in Developing Countries
• Factors Affecting Energy Demand in Developing Countries
• Child Labor and Human Capital in Developing Countries
• Biofuels: The Best Response of Developing Countries to High Energy Prices?
• Another Day, Another Dollar: Enterprise Resilience Under Terrorism in Developing Countries
• Health and Nutrition: Emerging and Reemerging Issues in Developing Countries
• Between the State and Market: Electricity Sector Reform in Developing Countries
• Import Competition From Developed and Developing Countries
• Automotive Industry Trends and Prospects for Investment in Developing Countries
• Climate Change, Agriculture, and Developing Countries: Does Adaptation Matter?
• Business Under Fire: Entrepreneurship and Violent Conflict in Developing Countries
• Adjustment Policies and Investment Performance in Developing Countries
• Catch Up: Developing Countries in the World Economy
• Bank Efficiency and Macro-economic Factors: The Case of Developing Countries
• Labor Mobility and Labor Utilization in Developing Countries
• Aggregate Agricultural Inputs and Outputs in Developing Countries
• Democracy, Elections, and Allocation of Public Expenditure in Developing Countries
• Catalyzing Investment for Renewable Energy in Developing Countries
• Aid and Public Sector Behavior in Developing Countries
• Economic Growth and Infant Mortality in Developing Countries
• Challenges and Policy Lessons for the Growth-Employment-Poverty Nexus in Developing Countries
• Beyond the ABCs: Higher Education and Developing Countries
• Alternative Pollution Control Policies in Developing Countries
• Family Ties, Institutions, and Financing Constraints in Developing Countries
• Bioenergy and Rural Development in Developing Countries
• Measuring and Explaining Government Efficiency in Developing Countries
• Child Mortality, Poverty and Environment in Developing Countries
• Biotechnology and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries
• Oil and Energy Demand in Developing Countries in 1990
• Argentina: Lessons for the Developing Countries
• Educational Quality and Labor Market Performance in Developing Countries
• Beliefs, Economic Volatility, and Redistributive Preferences Across Developing Countries
• Global Brands and Labor in Developing Countries
• Assets and Child Well-Being in Developing Countries
• Microfinance: Improving the Standard of Living in Developing Countries
• Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers

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StudyCorgi. (2022, August 27). 80 Developing Countries Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/developing-countries-essay-topics/

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These essay examples and topics on Developing Countries were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 27, 2023 .

Keys to climate action: How developing countries could drive global success and local prosperity

• Chapter 1: Overview
• Overview: Key messages
• Chapter 1. Working Paper

Subscribe to the Sustainable Development Bulletin

Amar bhattacharya , amar bhattacharya senior fellow - global economy and development , center for sustainable development homi kharas , and homi kharas senior fellow - global economy and development , center for sustainable development john w. mcarthur john w. mcarthur director - center for sustainable development , senior fellow - global economy and development @mcarthur.

February 16, 2023

These essays were published in the edited volume “ Keys to Climate Action: How Developing Countries Could Drive Global Success and Local Prosperity .”

A new narrative needs to capture the interwoven nature of the world’s climate and economic development challenges, anchored in the evolving and diverse perspectives of developing countries themselves. 

An updated portrayal begins with the stark reality of climate change’s devastating consequences already hindering economic development around the world. It underscores the need for urgent investments in adaptation, resilience, and nature to avoid development setbacks while paying heed to the world’s narrow window for climate action. It requires empathy for many developing countries’ profound energy conundrum: a tension between the need to expand access for people who need it most while facing pressures to pursue low-carbon opportunities, often in the face of local political and financing headwinds. It implies practical urgency in tackling the broken threads of the international financing system for climate and development.

To set a more robust global path to net-zero emissions by 2050, the world needs to pay greater attention to the needs of emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), even when holding aside the special case of China. Over the coming several decades, no part of the world will play a greater role in both experiencing and affecting global climate change outcomes than EMDEs themselves.  They need greater international support to tackle growth-enhancing sustainable development strategies.

With their growing leverage, developing countries have new opportunities to lean forward with a unified “ask” in global climate and development negotiations. The broader prize and aspiration amount to a full-fledged re-conception of models for sustainable development and of international cooperation. Falling short by losing sight of the big picture or wrangling excessively over details will dim the prospects for prosperity around the world. Rising to the occasion, however, can help usher in a new era of prosperity for all.

This edited volume brings together a cross section of distinguished academics and leading policy voices from a variety of developing country geographies and contexts. First, it presents perspectives on the local climate and development challenges and opportunities in Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and South Africa. Then, broader case studies focus on issues spanning East Africa, the African continent as a whole, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. The volume concludes with a chapter focused on systemic issues in financing development and climate-driven prosperity.

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Developing Countries Essay Topics

• Water Quality Issues as a Critical Environmental Determinant of Health for Populations in Developing Countries
• How Urbanization Provides Potential for Towns and Cities in Developing Countries to Become the Centers of the Social and Economic Progress
• Analysis of Economic Aspects Influencing the Lifespan of People with Dementia in Developing and Developed Countries
• Dualistic Employment Market in Developing Nations
• The Effects of Multinational Companies (MNC) Involvement in Developing Nations
• The Commonplace Practice of Providing Financial Assistance to Third World Countries
• The Political Environment, Civil Conflict, and Horizontal Inequalities: Evidence from 55 Developing Countries
• Influence of Free Trade on Developing Nations
• Ghana’s Top Three Issues as a Developing Nation
• Contribution of Tourism to the Development of Developing Nations
• Developmental Inequality: Relationships between Developed and Developing Countries
• Globalization’s Impacts on Developed and Developing Nations
• Indices of Poverty in Developing Countries
• Tourism as a Sector that Can Engage People and Promote Good Relations in Developing Countries
• Making Environmental Policies in Developing Nations
• Future Economic Sustainability in Developing Nations
• Why Migration Patterns Vary in Developing Nations
• The Negative Effects of Globalization on Developed and Developing Countries
• Judicial Corruption as a Persistent Culture of Impunity in African Leadership in Developing Countries
• Project Management Methodologies and Guidelines in Developing Nations
• Globalization’s Effects on Developed and Developing Countries
• Obesity in Children in Developing Nations: A Global Health Concern
• Why the Global Economy Sees Developing Countries’ Interests as Constrained.
• Restriction of Social Media Sites in Third World Countries
• The Effects of Internationalization on Developing Nations
• How Does Urban Poverty Develop in Developing Nations Due to Migration and Urbanization?
• Wage Disparity and Transparency in Developing Nations
• Third World Nations and Modernization Principle
• Developing Economies and the European Union
• Significance of Property Taxes in Developing Nations
• The Developing Nation of Mali
• Effects of Technology Solutions on Developing Nations
• The Theoretical Framework and Debate of Developing Countries
• An Analysis of the Nike Company in Developing Nations
• India: Is it Still a Third World country?
• Sustainable Democracies in Underdeveloped Nations

Essay Topics on Developing Countries

• Economic Fundamentals for Developing Nations
• Government Identification Cards in Developing Nations
• The Ethical Challenges Facing Nestlé in Developing Nations
• Effects of Global Marketing on Developing Countries
• Handling of Solid Waste in Developing Nations
• Constraints to E-Commerce in Developing Nations
• Eradication of Energy Poverty in Developing Countries
• Neonatal Nutrition in Developing Nations
• Migration to a Green Economy for Underdeveloped Countries
• Land Reform and Economic Progress in Developing Nations
• Rights of the Poor in Developing Nations
• Standard Features of Developing Economies
• Transnational Risks in Underdeveloped Countries
• Microfinance for Sustainability in Developing Countries
• Adverse Effects of Economic Growth on Developing Nations
• Small and Medium Sized Businesses in Developing Nations
• Mexico’s Consumer Behavior as A Developing Nation
• The Windows of Opportunity in Tourism in Developing Nations
• The AIDS Epidemic and the Healthcare Sector in Developing Countries
• Globalization, Liberalism, and Gender Equality Among Women in Developing Countries
• An Analysis of Microlending Services in Several Developing Nations
• Trends in Developing Countries’ Foreign Trade Patterns
• Economically Developed and Developing Nations
• India: A Developing Country for Business
• Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing for Developing Nations.
• Is Poverty in Developing Countries Just an Imagination?
• Cost of AIDS Medications Offered to Developing Countries
• Markets for Pneumococcal Vaccines in Developing Nations
• An Analogy of Developing Countries: Africa, Asia, and South America
• Links between Poverty and War in Developing Countries
• Access to the WTO Dispute Settlement as a Concern for Developing Countries
• The Impact of Clean Water on People’s Lives in Developing Nations
• Besley and Persson’s “Why Do Developing Countries Tax So Little?”
• Entrepreneurial Aspiration in Developing Countries
• How Might Developing Nations’ Situations Be Made Better by Debt Relief?
• Progression and Communication in Third World Nations

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Home — Essay Samples — Geography & Travel — Developing Country

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Developing Nations of the Modern World

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This module is for Grades: 6-8 Welcome

The modern world has gone through periods of conflict, progress, war and peace. The more industrialized and stable countries are often referred to as developed countries because they have emerged with the most advanced economies and stable governments. Their “developed” status provides them with more wealth, rights and opportunities for their populations. Examples of developed countries include the United States, Japan and Great Britain.

The non-developed countries, or developing countries , have economies and governments that limit the standard of living for their populations. The term “developing” is used to classify countries in need of support to meet challenges and support their populations. There are many statistics used to identify which countries qualify as a “developing country.” Some of the factors include:

• A weak economy vulnerable to local or world events
• Less industrialization and technology compared to developed countries
• High unemployment rate of people who are able to work
• Low income and high poverty for the working class
• Poor medical care and social services
• A weak or corrupt government unable or unwilling to support a needy population
• Few democratic liberties or individual rights for citizens

These factors produce populations that have on average lower life expectancy, less education, and lower wealth when compared with developed countries.

World map of human development. Image Credit – Canuckguy et al. derivative work: Tomtom2732 via Wikimedia Commons Opens a new window

Focus Standard

• Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories as appropriate to achieving purpose; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
• Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
• Identify evidence from secondary sources that support a thesis statement.

Social studies students must be able to examine sources on modern issues such as developing countries, and respond to questions about issues using written essays. Social studies essays are written to prove an argument using evidence learned in the classroom and from sources such as textbooks and primary sources. An essay is often organized under a thesis statement, which categorizes evidence and introduces the rest of the essay. The activities in this module will use thesis statements to examine and organize evidence related to the challenges faced by developing countries.

Module Objective

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify economic, political and cultural issues facing developing countries in order to categorize evidence from secondary sources to support a thesis statement.

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Developed Country

An industrialized nation that has a highly developed economy and advanced technologies compared to other less industrialized nations.

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Developing Country

A country that is not highly industrialized and generally has a low standard of living.

Standard of Living

The level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class in a certain geographic area.

Industrialization

Shift from more basic farming economies to manufacturing and technology.

Unemployment Rate

Percentage of a workforce that is not employed in a job. The rate is often used to assess the health of an economy.

Essay Example on Developing Countries

• December 4, 2022

Global Trade Liberalization and The Developing Countries

Essay on Developing Countries Introduction

In today’s world, with the emergence of the internet and computer technologies, companies and countries have global market access in terms of brand recognition, customer segments, and bilateral trade relations (Gnangnon, 2018). More specifically, a company or country can reach billions of customers across the world, and trade has never been easier. Technological developments, improvements in infrastructure and logistics, and the collective and constructive approach to liberalization, especially after the 2nd World War, created a suitable environment of global prosperity, wealth, and multilateral benefits (Haas & Hird, 2017; Gnangnon, 2018). Arguably, in this direction, the world has become rapidly global and liberal within the last decade. In other words, under-developed, developing, and developed countries started to work together in a collective and competitive manner, and world trade has overcome traditional barriers and prejudices. In this assignment, global trade liberalization and developing countries have been meticulously examined. The paper presents insights, information, and comments into the integration into the world economy, resulting in integration with the world economy, the progress of integration, results of the integration, policies on trade liberalization, evidence, potential gains and benefits, and further liberalization recommendations for reaping the benefits. After all, one can highlight that although developing countries have benefited from liberalization and open economy, there are still certain barriers by the EU and the U.S., especially in the textile and agricultural industries.

International Trade and the World Economy

Economic growth, poverty reduction, and development have long been boosted by integration into the World Economy within the last decades (Haas & Hird, 2017). That is, the growth of world trade increased 6 percent per year, two times more than the average of the world output (IMF Staff, 2001). Nevertheless, one can readily infer that trade was already considered a predominant factor for obtaining growth (Haas & Hird, 2017; Gnangnon, 2018). Since the end of the 2nd World War, the global trading system made use of “eight rounds of multilateral trade liberalization, as well as from unilateral and regional liberalization” (IMF Staff, 2001). In this direction, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was approved by many countries, and the world of trade was enabled on a large scale. Moreover, the last one of these rounds, called “Uruguay Round,” which was completed in 1994, resulted in the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) (IMF Staff, 2001). The organization provides a suitable and meticulous environment for organizing and arranging the increasing and gradual bodies of multilateral trade regulations and agreements.

Integration into the world economy refers to secure access to global open markets. This approach can be boosted by related regulations and policies that enable developing and emerging countries to take part in developed markets, or vice versa (Gnangnon, 2018). For instance, Turkey is a strong engine semi-parts manufacturer. That is, rather than wholly manufacturing a full functioning engine, the country is concentrated on manufacturing parts to support developed factories in industrial countries (Altuntaş et al., 2009). This collective approach benefits both developed countries and developing Turkey and creates a win-win trade environment. In this sense, Turkey is supported by some regulations, including customs agreements between the EU and Turkey.

The living standards across the world have been boosted as a result of the integration of the world. Most of the developing countries could improve in many fields, thanks to the global aspects of international trade. That is, they have had a suitable environment and tariffs for exporting and importing goods with many other developed and developing countries; and subsequently, the incomes of such countries have dramatically risen and brought prosperity to developing nations across the globe (Gnangnon, 2018). More specifically, while developing countries used to account for one-fourth of the overall world trade during the 60s and 70s, they now account for one-third of the world economy (IMF Staff, 2001). In this direction, many developing countries have drastically developed their infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities as a result of free access to global markets.

Similarly, the relations and trade between developing and developed countries increased in a rapid manner (Cornia, 2020; Gnangnon, 2018). In other words, 80 percent of the overall exports of developed countries are now going to developing countries (IMF Staff, 2001). In this sense, one can readily infer that the integration of the world economy has both benefited developing and developed countries in terms of trade access, income, manufacturing, and infrastructure, as well as international relations and politics implicitly.

Although the integration has long been considered as hugely beneficial to many countries across the globe, the developments in recent decades have shown us that the progress was sometimes uneven. While some Asian countries, including China and Japan, benefited a lot, Latin American countries, unfortunately, could not satisfyingly make use of the integration. The reasons behind the success of Asian countries stem from the fact that these countries were successful at implementing required internal regulations in order to take part in international trade by attracting foreign trade investments (FDI) to their countries. Especially India and China “embraced trade liberalization and other market-oriented reforms, and also of higher-income countries in Asia—like Korea and Singapore—that were themselves poor up to the 1970s” (IMF Staff, 2001). In this sense, one can conclude that the progress of integration has highly been dependent on the internal regulations and the pace of adaptation of developing countries. That is, although Asian countries were willing and successful in implementing and embracing new global regulations, especially Latin America and North African countries could not successfully adapt themselves, resulting in comparably fewer benefits in terms of income and wealth.

As mentioned earlier, although willing countries have benefited a lot from the integration, Latin America, Middle East, and African countries could not keep up with the new developments in world trade. That is, “the poorest countries have seen their share of world trade declined substantially, and without lowering their own barriers to trade, they risk further marginalization” (IMF Staff, 2001). Unlike successful countries, these countries faced structural problems with their economies, weak policies and regulations, and over-protection of trade in many aspects.

After all, although some countries failed to integrate into the world economy, many developing countries such as Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, and India could make use of such an advantage. Between 2002 and 2010, after an almost whole integration into the European and American markets, the Turkish economy showed a sustainable growth rate, and they managed to get rid of extra zero in the national currency. The development was so rapid and beneficial that in 2008, 1 Turkish lira was worth 0.82 $US, and that rate was recorded in Turkish history (Altunbaş et al., 2009). As a developing country, Turkey integrated its internal and external assets into the world economy by freeing and opening its markets and took a great deal of FDI. Thus, international organizations could invest in Turkey because of its literate population and benefited both sides. As a result, while there are contrary examples, countries that managed to comply with the requirements of liberalization and free economy have long benefited from the globalization.

The Benefits of Trade Liberalization

Sustainable economic growth requires strong and decent policies aimed at international liberalization and trade. No need for evidence, this condition is clear. That is, not a single country was successful at improving their income, trade, and living standards without making their economy and country to open to other economies and international trade environment. For instance, the success of Asian economies are clear examples; they lowered their trade tariffs from %30 to %10 within the last decades. In this direction, one can highlight those nations should implement accessible and comprehensible regulations and policies that ease the process of international trade and globalization.

In the manufacturing of certain products, opening up economies creates many advantages to the global economy in order to boost the competitive advantage of nations. South Korea and North Korea can be given as explicit examples. While South Korea has been open to the world economy for many decades now, North Korea was extremely close to other nations, not only in terms of economy but culture as well. When considered the overall wealth of both countries, the advantages of the open economy are clear. Open economy enables a multinational, cultural, and bilateral advantage for many countries, and these eventually attract foreign direct investments, which bring wealth to the nation.

There are substantial evidence and statistics regarding oriented countries in terms of integration to world economies. “Countries that have opened their economies in recent years, including India, Uganda, and Vietnam, have experienced faster growth and more poverty reduction” (IMF Staff, 2001). In other words, those countries decreased their tariff rate during the 80s and experienced substantial economic growth in the following years.

Getting rid of trade barriers and integrating into the world economy creates many advantages. “Estimates of the gains from eliminating all barriers to merchandise trade range from US$250 billion to US$680 billion per year” (IMF Staff, 2001). Also, almost 70% percent of this income benefited developing countries directly or implicitly. Moreover, developed countries have more protective measures against trade, and one can highlight that developing countries tend to benefit more from an international open market.

Further Liberalization of International Trade

The information is given above clearly supports the idea of further liberalization. That is, the state of open market and protection are significant for both developing and developed countries because each nation may have a comparative advantage on a single product, while there still exists a need for other types of goods, and the concept of free trade and liberalization creates a mutual and bilateral advantage for both group of countries. In general, industrial (developed) countries tend to implement high protection and tariffs for agricultural products. In other words, according to the statistics, the average tariff in agriculture is almost nine times more than the manufacturing industry (IMF Staff, 2001). Moreover, agricultural manufacturing and subsidies in developing countries lead to pre-empting markets and a depressive market by undermining developing countries. As an example, “European Commission is spending 2.7 billion euro per year making sugar profitable for European farmers at the same time that it is shutting out low-cost imports of tropical sugar” (IMF Staff, 2001). In this direction, one can claim that protection over agricultural product and imports in developed countries result in a depressive agricultural sector for developing countries that aim to sell agricultural products for their GDP and economy.

The protection of manufacturing is not quite strict in developed countries. However, many labor-intensive products tend to be protected. For instance, “the U.S., which has an average import tariff of only 5 percent, has tariff peaks on almost 300 individual products, which are largely on textiles and clothing, which account for 90 percent of the $1 billion annually in U.S. imports from the poorest countries” (IMF Staff, 2001). Similarly, other types of labor-intensive products are subjected to tariff escalation and peaks. In this direction, developing and emerging countries find it hard to manufacture labor-intensive value-added products because of tariff peaks in those (developed) countries. Nevertheless, developing countries also implement high tariffs. Generally, their tariff on manufactured industrial products tend to be four times more than of developed countries, and they tend to show the same characteristics with industrial countries in terms of tariff policies on value-added products.

Because of tariff peaks and barriers, nontraditional measures have become common in global trade. That is, both developing and developed countries implement anti-dumping measures. Also, sanitary and technical standards of import can sometimes become overwhelmed. Moreover, there may be extra charges for exporters, especially to the European Union. For instance, “EU regulations on aflatoxins are costing Africa $1.3 billion in exports of cereals, dried fruits, and nuts per European life saved” (IMF Staff, 2001). In this sense, one can readily question the balance of costs and benefits in terms of exporter and customers with such regulations.

As global trade is proven to boost economic growth and wealth for both sides, further liberalization by developing and developed countries should be improved. More specifically, international communities and especially developed countries should realize the barriers to developing and poorer countries and come up with constructive policies to attract production and manufacturing across the globe. That is, especially for textile and agriculture, regulations in the EU and the U.S. should be reviewed because they are extremely strict and create disadvantages and comparative inferiority for poor countries. Similar to this, decreases on tariff escalation and peaks should be implemented to boost world trade. After all, enhanced market access for poor and developing countries will eventually result in a better income and decrease in poverty across the world.

Reaping the Benefits

Although the steps taken after the 2nd World War created a liberal trade environment, failures such as the WTO Conference in 1999 led to drawbacks and challenges for the international trade environment (Haas & Hird, 2017). These kind of agreements and multilateral initiatives are extremely significant because they provide many countries with visible benefits that eventually lead to economic growth, increased GDP, and enhance available markets across the world. In this sense, potential failures may include ineffective agreements and negotiations that merely benefit one group of countries. In other words, trade is a collective win-win outcome, and benefiting only one group will eventually result in failure.

In conclusion, in this assignment, global trade liberalization and developing countries have been meticulously examined. The paper presents insights, information, and comments into the integration into the world economy, resulting in integration with the world economy, the progress of integration, results of the integration, policies on trade liberalization, evidence, potential gains and benefits, and further liberalization recommendations for reaping the benefits. Economic growth, poverty reduction, and development have long been boosted by integration into the World Economy within the last decades. Integration into the world economy refers to easy access to global open markets. This approach can be boosted by related regulations and policies that enable developing and poor countries to take part in developed markets, or vice versa. Although the integration has long been considered as hugely beneficial to many countries across the globe, the developments in recent decades have shown us that the progress was sometimes uneven. While some Asian countries, including China and Japan, benefited a lot, Latin American countries, unfortunately, could not satisfyingly make use of the integration. International communities and especially developed countries should realize the barriers to developing and poorer countries and come up with constructive policies to attract production and manufacturing across the globe. After all, one can highlight that although developing countries have benefited from liberalization and open economy, there are still certain barriers by the EU and the U.S., especially in the textile and agricultural industries.

Altunbaş, Y., Kara, A., & Olgu, Ö. (2009). Overview of the Turkish economy. Turkish Banking, 7-39.

Cornia, G. A. (2020). Macroeconomic stabilization in developing countries. The Macroeconomics of Developing Countries, 309-327.

Gnangnon, S. K. (2018). Effect of multilateral trade liberalization on foreign direct investment outflows amid structural economic vulnerability in developing countries. Research in International Business and Finance, 45, 15-29.

Haas, P., & Hird, J. A. (2017). Trade liberalization and economic growth: Does trade liberalization contribute to economic prosperity? Controversies in Globalization: Contending Approaches to International Relations, 1-39.

IMF Staff. (2001). Global trade liberalization and the developing countries -- An IMF issues brief.

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Impact of Globalisation (Revision Essay Plan)

Last updated 11 Jan 2022

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Here is a suggested answer to a question on the impact of globalisation on developed and developing countries.

Introductory Context

An estimated 9 percent of the global population still lives below the international poverty line of US$1.90 PPP a day.Success in reducing poverty in East Asia is clear with 7 percent of the population in the region living below the US$3.20 PPP line and 25 percent living below the US$5.50 PPP poverty line in 2018. However, almost 70 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population lives on less than US$3.20 per day. Progress in cutting extreme poverty has been halted by the pandemic. The World Bank estimated that the pandemic pushed between 119 and 124 million people into extreme poverty around the globe in 2020. Many developing countries have limited resilience to the impact of economic shocks and threats from climate change.”.

Source: Adapted from the World Bank Poverty Report, 2021

To what extent have the economic benefits of globalisation favoured developed over developing countries? (25 marks)

KAA Point 1

Globalisation involves deeper integration between countries through networks of trade, capital flows, ideas, technologies and movement of people. One argument that globalisation has favoured high-income countries lies in the growing dominance of TNCs from advanced nations. TNCs base their manufacturing, assembly, research and retail operations across several countries, and many have become synonymous with globalisation namely Nike, Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet) and Samsung. Some have annual revenues many times higher than the GDP of smaller low-income countries and there has been fierce criticism of numerous TNCs for following tax avoidance strategies such as transfer pricing. This has reduced tax revenues for governments in developing nations which then hampers their ability to use fiscal policy to fund public services such as education and basic health care. The effect is to limit progress in reducing extreme poverty and improving human development outcomes.

Evaluation Point 1

A counter argument is that globalisation is associated with a steady reduction in import tariffs around the world which has then improved access to high-income markets for businesses from emerging countries. Many nations in east Asia have achieved reductions in extreme poverty driven by export-led growth. The extract says that only 7 percent of this region’s population now live below the US$3.20 PPP poverty line and continued high growth – as economies recover from the effects of the pandemic - will lead to improvements in per capita incomes and living standards. Indeed, sixty percent of the value of world GDP now comes from emerging market and developing economies and several countries have their own TNCs operating on a global scale. The recent success of countries such as South Korea, India and Vietnam is testimony to the opportunities that globalisation has offered developing nations who have developed competitive advantage across a range of industries.

KAA Point 2

A second argument supporting the question is that nations succeeding in a globalizing world have diversified economies, a workforce with flexible skills and governments with fiscal resources to overcome external shocks such as the pandemic. In contrast, poorer low-income countries rely heavily on the production and export of primary commodities or incomes from tourism, both of which have been hit by the global recession in 2020-21. Many poorer nations also haveinadequate infrastructure which increases the costs of trade and their direct tax revenues as a share of GDP are low because of sizeable informal economies and persistently low per capita incomes. This means that national governments rely heavily on external debt, and many have low currency reserves. They are therefore more exposed to economic, financial and public health shocks. This is evidenced by the differences in vaccination rates between rich and low-income countries. As of January 2022, only 9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose and per capita incomes may take years to reach pre-2020 levels.

Evaluation Point 2

In evaluation, the globalisation process has been a catalyst for economic reforms in low and middle-income countries. Consider the example of Vietnam which has transitioned to a socialist oriented market economy and successfully attracted inward FDI from companies such as LG and Samsung. FDIhas flowed in helped by low unit labour costs costs, improving infrastructure and human capital and a deregulated business environment whilst the Vietnamesegovernment has moved to a managed floating exchange rateto help reduce some of the risks from regional and global economic shocks. Vietnam is a good example of a country that has successfully progressed from a low income to a low-middle income nation over the last two decades. The valueof their external trade accounts for roughly 180% of national output, more than any other country at its level of per-person GDP. And their educational scores on standardized tests are on a par with Germany and Austria.

Final Reasoned Comment

Overall, it is hard to reach a firm view on this question because globalisation as a process is uneven and not inevitable. Before and during the pandemic, there was evidence of a switch towards “regionalisation” rather than full-throttled globalisation. For example, most sub-Saharan African countries have joined the African Continental Free Trade Area which seeks to boost intra-regional trade and investment and encourage economies of scale among African businesses so that they can better compete against the dominance of Western TNCs. Developing nations often struggle to compete with developed countries, therefore it is argued free trade benefits high-income economies more. Gains from globalisation will never be equitably distributed.And this sense of deepening inequality and opportunity risks a further shift to tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and moves towards economic nationalism.

• Globalisation
• Deglobalisation
• Hyper-globalisation
• Transnational Businesses
• Developing countries

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Research Article

The Scientific Impact of Developing Nations

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Business School, Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

Affiliation Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal

Affiliation Physics Department, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Mexico City, México

• Claudia N. Gonzalez-Brambila, 
• Leonardo Reyes-Gonzalez, 
• Francisco Veloso, 
• Miguel Angel Perez-Angón

• Published: March 29, 2016
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328
• Reader Comments

This paper analyzes science productivity for nine developing countries. Results show that these nations are reducing their science gap, with R&D investments and scientific impact growing at more than double the rate of the developed world. But this “catching up” hides a very uneven picture among these nations, especially on what they are able to generate in terms of impact and output relative to their levels of investment and available resources. Moreover, unlike what one might expect, it is clear that the size of the nations and the relative scale of their R&D investments are not the key drivers of efficiency.

Citation: Gonzalez-Brambila CN, Reyes-Gonzalez L, Veloso F, Perez-Angón MA (2016) The Scientific Impact of Developing Nations. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151328. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328

Editor: Marcelo Hermes-Lima, Universidade de Brasília, BRAZIL

Received: January 27, 2015; Accepted: February 27, 2016; Published: March 29, 2016

Copyright: © 2016 Gonzalez-Brambila et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Databases used: OECD (2012) Main Science and Technology Indicators (OECD, Paris). UNESCO, Institute for Statistics (2013), http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/ReportFolders/ReportFolders.aspx?IF_ActivePath=P,54&IF_Language=eng ; US Patent and Trademark Office, (2013). ftp://ftp.uspto.gov/pub/taf/ ; WIPO, Industrial Property Statistics – Aggregate Patent Data, (2013). http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/index.html ; World Bank, (2012).World Development Indicators, www.worldbank.org .

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Banorte provided support in the form of salaries for author [Reyes-Gonzalez], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

Competing interests: Banorte provided support in the form of salaries for author [Reyes-Gonzalez]. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Introduction

Perhaps the most widely used tool to judge a nation’s scientific performance is international comparison with peer countries [ 1 – 3 ]. This research typically compares publications and citations that the scientific work of each country receives, to look at relative impact. It also analyzes efficiency, comparing countries on indicators such as papers or citations per level of expenditures. Despite these important studies, an important limitation is that they mostly focus on developed countries. But looking at the scientific performance of developing nations is at least as relevant.

First, developing countries typically finance most of their research with public funds and face stronger budget austerity, making it more important to understand the effect of Research and Development (R&D) budget allocation decisions. Second, over the last few years, an increasing number of developing nations, including Brazil, China, India and Mexico, have proclaimed their commitment to science and technology (S&T) as a fundamental pillar of their economic development. Finally, there is an increasing debate on perceived performance of the national science systems of these countries, but hardly any quantitative analysis to support the discussion.

In this article we characterize and compare the investment and performance of S&T for a group of developing countries. We focus our analysis on nine nations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and Turkey (which will be named the baseline group). These countries were chosen because they are among the largest developing nations, have heterogeneous S&T dynamics, there is sufficient data available to construct all the relevant benchmarks, and their individual contribution to the global S&T, measured both as share in R&D investment and scientific output, was higher than 0.1% of the world total in the 2000–2009 period.

Similar to [ 3 ], we consider R&D investment as a measure of inputs and the number of citations as a measure of scientific impact. We then assess efficiency, considering as a measure of input the R&D investment and a number of productivity indicators, from publications and citations per researcher (the same measure used by [ 3 ]) to patents and citations per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as measures of outcomes. [ 3 ] uses citations per unit of GDP as a measure of output/outcome. Similarly, we include the number of patents per unit of GDP as a measure of outcome of a S&T system [ 4 ]. The results are contrasted against those for a set of benchmark developed nations, including Spain, South Korea, the United States (US), the 15 European Union nations (EU15 include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and the Russian Federation, extending and complementing the work by [ 3 ]. We include Spain and South Korea because these nations have improved significantly in economic and scientific terms in the last two decades and, like most developing nations, they also face language barriers when trying to publish in international (mostly English) peer reviewed journals. The United States, the European Union (EU15) and the Russian Federation served as general benchmarks.

Widening Gap?

The first critical issue is to examine what is happening to science in the developing world compared with the developed world. According to [ 3 ] “the nations with the most citations are pulling away from the rest of the world.” This conclusion, however, may be the product of emphasizing the context of advanced nations, treating the developed world as just a block. A more detailed analysis reveals a different and richer portrait.

Between 1993 and 2009, the total world investment on R&D grew from approximately USD 452 to USD 1,276.9 billions [ 5 ]; an average growth of 6.7% each year (current Purchasing Power Parity—PPP values). In the same period, our baseline group of developing nations grew in absolute terms at almost double that rate (12.4%) almost tripling their level of expenses during this period. This increase is even larger in China, Turkey and Mexico, which increased their R&D investment at an average rate of 18.8%, 12.6% and 10.6%, respectively; these increments contrast especially with the US and the EU15, who had their expenditure growing much less (5.7% and 5.2%, respectively).

A similar perspective exists for outputs. World scientific output, measured as the number of publications in the Web of Science [ 6 ], grew 4.2% each year, going from 682,064 in 1996 to 1,164,000 papers in 2009. In the same period, the baseline group once again grew at more than three times that rate (13%). China and Turkey grew at a higher rate than the world (17% and 16% respectively), while the EU15 grew at almost the world pace (3.5%) and the US and the Russian Federation had lower rates (2.3% and 0.2%, respectively).

In addition to absolute growth rates, we also want to understand how countries are contributing relative to others and to the world total. Thus, we calculated each country’s share in total world investment and scientific impact. These are represented in Table 1 . We used citation share instead of publication share because citations provide a better measure of quality and visibility of the results of science [ 7 – 8 ]. Then, we calculated the growth rates of these shares for the period 1993–2009 for GERD and 1991–2009 for citation share in five-year periods. The GERD share is the contribution of each country to the total investment in the world. For example, the United States invested 28.7% of the total investment in R&D around the world in 2009. The citation share refers to the proportion of cites that a given country received relative to the total number of citations that were generated around the world in a given period.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.t001

Table 1 suggests that, by 2009, two major groups emerge: one group of mid-level contributors includes Brazil, India, and the Russian Federation. By contrast, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and Turkey are smaller contributors, remaining below 0.7% of the world total in terms of investment and impact. In addition, over the 18 year period considered in the analysis, China, South Korea and Spain departed from the mid-level group and became much greater contributors to global S&T.

We can then compare and contrast individual countries on how they are contributing to world S&T on outputs/impacts, given their contribution on the input side. First, it is important to single out, in 2009, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and specially Poland, are countries that are having a relatively higher impact contribution in comparison to what they are investing. This is, their citation share, in the 2005–2009 period, was higher than their GERD share in 2009. This suggests an efficient use of their resources in terms of their overall contribution to the international pool of scientific knowledge. At the same time, a number of other nations invest as much, and often more as any of the four highlighted above, but achieve inferior levels of relative impact (e.g. Brazil and the Russian Federation).

The table also provides a temporal evolution. In the 1993–2009 period, Brazil, Chile and South Africa became relatively more efficient, because they increased their citation share while maintaining their share of investment almost constant; also Mexico, China and Turkey increased both shares but the increase in the citation share was even larger; South Korea is the most efficient country, as its citation share grew almost three times its investment share. In contrast Argentina, India and Poland reduced their investment share while increasing their contribution to the world science.

The significant growth trend for these nations, contrasts with those of the US and the EU15. The share of world R&D investment for the baseline group was growing at an annual rate of 4.29% during the period noted in the table, and its citation share grew at 7.1% per five-year period. In the same eighteen years, the US saw its share of world investment in R&D reduced at an annual rate of 1.54%, while the EU15 shrank at 2.24% per year. On the impact side, the US had a decline of 2.25% per year in citations, while the share of the EU15 citations grew at an annualized rate of 1.33%. Overall, these differences in growth rates support the notion that this important group of developing countries is catching up with the developed ones.

Inputs and outputs/outcomes for R&D

To analyze efficiency, we use a modified version of the superimposed footprint graph introduced by [ 3 ]. This tool gives a “snapshot of value-for-money measured by the international impact of the research output of each nation”, allowing a comparison of the productivity of different systems. Following the approach of [ 3 ], the data of each country was averaged over several years, 2005–2009 was the period we used.

Two measures of input were considered. First, the most important overall indicator, the gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP, which consists of the sum of all annual investments on R&D in business, university, government and not-for-profit sectors, expressed as a percentage of GDP of the national territory. A second measure, the business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) as percentage of GDP, was included to show the contribution of the private sector in the total expenditure. This measure was also expressed as a percentage of GDP of the national territory. To measure the scientific productivity of each nation, and considering the important differences in the sizes of economies and the scientific communities we use the number of publications and citations per researcher and the number of resident patents and citations per unit of GDP.

In Fig 1 the data of each country is the average over the 2005–2009 five year period. All data was normalized to the maximum value of each indicator. The purpose of using radar charts was to examine the relative values of the different variables. Thus, the data length is proportional to the maximum magnitude of each indicator. Each star represents a country.

Sources: GERD, BERD and the number of full time equivalent (FTE) researchers data were obtained using the OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators ( http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MSTI_PUB ). The number of publications and citations was obtained using the ISI National Science Indicators (Thomson Reuters, 2011). The GDP was obtained from the World Bank Indicators www.worldbank.org . Patents were obtained from WIPO, Industrial Property Statistics—Aggregate Patent Data , (2013). http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/index.html .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.g001

Fig 1 compares the average performance of the baseline group against Spain, South Korea, the US and the EU15. As expected, the more developed countries outperform the baseline group in almost all dimensions but publications per researcher. This could be a consequence that most developing countries’ S&T institutions were inspired by what is known as the “linear model”, assuming that good-quality basic research could produce, eventually, applied research that would increase the society welfare.

On the input side, it is important to note that the gap between the baseline group and the rest of the nations is more important on the business side of expenditures than in overall expenditures. This shows that public expenditures play a disproportionately larger role in the meager investments that these nations do in S&T when compared to the developed world. Moreover, when looking at the output/outcome side it is also clear that the countries in our baseline group trail the developed nations also in the level of efficiency with which they use their scarcer resources, having lower citations per researcher, but higher publications per researcher. Yet, it is interesting to note that the baseline group performs better than South Korea in terms of publication and citation indicators, suggesting that magnitude of the investment is far from being the only explanation for the differences. The graph also suggests that the commitment of business to R&D is reflected in the overall orientation of the national system and in the metrics where it leads or trails. South Korea, where the business community is heavily involved in R&D funding, is where the contrast in terms of science and invention productivity is more striking. It is behind in all science productivity measures, but it leads in its ability to generate patents given its level of development.

Fig 2 presents a footprint graph equivalent to the one presented in Fig 1 , but only for the set of developing countries of interest. The first observation is the important heterogeneity that it displays, especially if compared to what was found for the developed world [ 3 ]. All the countries have an asymmetric footprint, ranking high in certain dimensions and low in others. This heterogeneity is also present within each individual indicator. A major variation in the level of involvement of the business community in R&D among these nations can easily be noted, with China, South Africa and Brazil leading the group, and Turkey also above the average. Likewise, we can see that patenting activities also vary a lot among these nations, with China as the clear leader. The area where the difference between top and lower performers appears to be smaller is citation per unit of GDP.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.g002

The behavior of individual countries is also remarkable. First, Poland and Latin American countries, excluding Brazil, all have a modest to low level of investment in R&D, both overall, and in their private dimension. Nevertheless, they have an average to superior performance in terms of scientific productivity, above many of the other nations that are committing relatively more resources to R&D. Chile is a particularly interesting case, because it outperforms all others in terms of citations per researcher and publications per researcher. It has been pointed out that Chile’s scientific performance is related to its excellent collaboration with European researchers, in particular in research projects developed in the European Southern Observatory located in Chilean territory [ 9 ]. Even so, this suggests that the country has a small but highly productive S&T system, which could quickly grow in overall impact if the investments in R&D were to increase and productivity maintained.

China, Brazil and South Africa provide a good contrast to the nations noted in the previous paragraph. They are clear leaders of the group in terms of investment in R&D, both in relative and absolute terms, but their systems appear to have limited productivity, at least when considering these standardized international metrics. Interestingly, if we combine Figs 1 and 2 with figure 5 in [ 3 ], we can see that Asian countries (Japan, South Korea and China), have in general a low productivity in terms of publications and citations per researcher. The low productivity of these nations could represent a bias towards national journals, or at least a focus on outputs that are not usually considered in international scientific circles. In addition, it is possible that there is a trade off in the type of research of the various systems, so that a greater industrial focus may necessarily mean more patents at the expense of publications/citations [ 10 ].

India and Poland appear to have the most consistent pattern in terms of the levels of investment and scientific productivity. However, they diverge with respect to the citations per unit of GDP, where both countries outperform the rest of the group by far. This suggests that these two countries are much more active participants in international science and invention than what we might have expected, given the size of their economies. South Africa is also worth noting, as it seems to be the most balanced nation, with high investments in R&D, and a corresponding high performance in terms of scientific productivity and citation intensity, as well as relatively high level of invention activity as measured by patents.

Research footprint

As suggested by [ 11 ] new pictures are needed for interpreting research performance. Countries have established different priorities in R&D that are reflected in their outcomes. Fig 3 shows the normalized number of publications in the Science Citation Index Expanded in 2008 [ 12 ] for the baseline group and the benchmark develop nations. The analysis of publications in the Social Citation Index is not considered in this paper since there is some evidence [ 13 ] that in Social and Humanities an important number of research products are publish in the form of books and book chapters; and in local journals.

Source: Thomson Reuters, Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded), compiled by UNESCO, (UNESCO, 2010).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.g003

By far, the majority of the papers published are in Clinical Medicine in all countries but the Russian Federation, even for the baseline group. The chart confirms the findings of [ 14 – 15 ]. Clearly, R&D in the US and EU-15 has focused on the “Western Model” [ 14 ] where the biomedical research prevails. The Russian Federation continues focusing in chemistry and physics, and South Korea has focused more in engineering. The baseline group (as an added group) seems following a similar pattern than the “Western Model”, although the biomedical research is clearly smaller, probably because this research is more expensive and the participation of the private sector has shown to be imperative [ 15 ].

However, the differences among the countries of the baseline group are enormous. Fig 4 shows a footprint equivalent to the one presented in Fig 3 but only for the set of developing countries of interest. Clearly, China has focus its R&D on what [ 15 ] called Factor 2, with a high emphasis in Chemistry, Physics and Engineering, and a focus on innovation that coincides with its high participation of private investment in R&D and the elevated number of resident patents by unit of GDP (showed in Fig 2 ). India, on the other side, represents a mix of Factor 1 and Factor 2 countries, as China, India has a strong R&D in Chemistry, Physics and Engineering (Factor 2) but also in Clinical Medicine (Factor 1). However, India has a relatively low number of resident patents and the contribution of the business sector is modest, even though its strong domestic pharmaceutical industry.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.g004

The Latin-American countries considered in the sample, and South Africa are also a mix of Factor 3 and Factor 1 countries. Their R&D is strong in Biology and agricultural sciences (Factor 3) but also they are closing the gap with more research in Clinical Medicine and Biomedical research.

Finally, Poland and Turkey are Factor 1 countries and their R&D is more focused on Clinical Medicine, especially Turkey.

It is important to note that the number and characteristics of publications varies a lot among different areas of knowledge. In physics it is not uncommon to find publications with hundreds of authors; on the other side, mathematicians tend to publish in small teams. Other example is in clinical medicine, where one can find publications of 1 or 2 pages that show the results of clinical test, on the other extreme there are other areas where the papers are very large.

International Collaboration

The increasing contribution of the baseline group to world S&T in outputs is closely related to how much researchers collaborate with other researchers in other countries. As stated by [ 16 ].

“the number of countries represented in the author list increases, articles are more likely to be published in journals with higher impact factors and accrue more citations than peer publications which have fewer countries represented”.

Thus, our measures of publications and citations have an international collaboration bias. Fig 5 shows the percentage of scientific publications in international collaboration in the Science Citation Index Expanded produced by Thomson Reuters [ 12 ]. As can be seen, Chile and South Africa are the countries with the highest international collaboration, and are also among the most productive, in terms of publications and citations per researcher. However, the variation among the baseline group is significant and, in some sense proves that the reduction in the science gap, between this set of developing countries and the developed countries, is not explained only by the international collaboration. Turkey is the second most productive country, in terms of publications per researcher; however, it has the least international collaboration, showing that there are other factors that also have help to reduce the science gap.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.g005

Discussion and Conclusions

Since the early nineties, nine of the most dynamic developing economies have reduced the gap with the more developed world, both in terms of R&D investment and scientific impact. The results of this research shows that the baseline group of developing countries grew in absolute terms at almost double the rate of the world investment on R&D. Even more, the baseline group grew at more than three times the rate of world scientific output, measure as the number of publications. China in particular had a very strong evolution, becoming an important contender in the world S&T arena. It has been documented the critical role of universities in the building of China's national innovative capacity over the last years [ 17 ]. But the national benchmarks of inputs and outcomes reveals that this “catching up” hides important diversity in these S&T systems, not only in terms of how much they are committing to R&D given the relative size of their economies, but especially of what they are able to generate in terms of impacts and outputs. For example, Poland´s citation share was 0.73% in the 2005–2009 period, which almost double its GERD share that was 0.3% in 2009. This shows that it is a higher impact contributor in comparison to what it is investing. Argentina, Chile and Spain are also among the higher impact contributors.

It is clear that size, either of the nation or the magnitude of the investment, is not the key driver of efficiency. The differences seem to be rooted in the specific nature of the system and the institutions in each nation, which need to be better understood and compared in their specificities [ 18 ]. Chile appears to have been able to reach high levels of scientific productivity, despite its low level of R&D expenditures, by taking advantage of international collaborations and the European Southern Observatory [ 9 ]. Besides, it has the highest percentage of publications in international collaboration (56%) among the baseline group. Argentina and Spain are also countries with high international collaboration, which makes one presume that their high level of efficiency is due to that. However, Poland does not have a high rate of international collaboration (33%) and is the one that shows the highest efficiency, in terms of inputs/impacts. This suggests that a careful analysis of the research environment in these nations might help us understand the mechanisms that allow nations to reach such performance, aiming to draw lessons for other countries. Effective S&T policies require a careful understanding of the specific realities of each nation, as well as an attentive assessment and active search for best practices, to this purpose, it is highly recommended to use primary sources of information.

On the other side, the analysis in this paper shows that there are other nations that invest more, but achieve inferior levels of relative impact such as Brazil, China and India. All these countries have relatively low levels of international collaboration, 26%, 22% and 18%, respectively, which could be one explanation of their comparatively low level of citations. Another explanation could be that all these countries are non-English speaking countries, and there are studies that show evidence that China or Spain lose up to 13% and 8%, respectively, of their citations in ISI databases [ 19 ], because the citations are calculated by matching procedures that are fully automated, so misspellings are not taken into account. Another motive is that ISI performance indicators consider only journals included in Thomson Reuters databases, so that the count of citations of local journals, books, proceedings, among others, are not considered [ 8 ]. It could be expected that South Korea and the Russian Federation could also be in this situation. Finally, another explanation is that all countries included in this analysis have different knowledge footprints, and the number of publications and citations, as well as the investment that each discipline requires, varies a lot among areas of knowledge [ 8 ].

Another important conclusion of this paper is that the more developed countries outperform the baseline group in almost all dimensions but publications; and two of the most significant gaps are in the business side of the expenditures (BERD as % of GDP) and patents. As was mentioned before, this could be a consequence that developing countries’ S&T institutions were inspired by what is known as the “linear model”, assuming that good-quality basic research could produce, eventually, applied research.

It is important to stress that the analysis that has been done in this paper only shows selected S&T indicators, however, by looking at the figures along with exploring the drivers of private investments in R&D in nations such as Brazil, China and Poland might yield new ideas or strategies for the rest, as they strive to increase the involvement of their own business sector in S&T activities.

Finally, the figures presented in this paper show the great heterogeneity of these countries. Notwithstanding we believe that the analysis exhibits how deepening our understanding of the S&T system in these nations, especially by contrasting similarities and differences among them, can provide significant learning opportunities, helping to foster sounder S&T policies that can help these nations make the most of their R&D investment. It is important to stress that the measures of inputs and outputs shown in this paper have important limitations since they do not capture the complexity of the R&D process. There are other inputs more than GERD and BERD that influences the outputs, such as S&T infrastructure, the level of education of the population, competitiveness indicators, the incline to international collaboration and the priorities of certain areas of knowledges. There are areas of knowledge that require more resources than others [ 15 ]. On the other side, there are also a lot of outputs that are crucial and this study does not take into account [ 20 ]. Moreover, it has been documented that publications, citations and patents are poor proxies of the outputs of S&T since to capture the essence of good science, evaluators of scientific activity should combine forces to create an open, sound and consistent system for measuring all the activities that make up academic productivity [ 13 , 20 – 25 ]. In this paper, we only consider publications and citations reported in ISI databases, and even though they are a valuable tool in policy studies addressing general issues regarding academic systems since they are objective measurements of the diffusion and impact of research, and allow us to determine the geographic origin of research and detect growth or erosion of countries´ scientific impact; they have important limitations, such as they do not take into account books, proceedings, local journals, etc., besides the count of citations does not consider misspellings [ 26 ].

Another important caveat of this paper is that it is based on S&T indicators reported by the nations to international agencies, and even though the multiple efforts of agencies like UNESCO and OECD to standardize indicators and make them comparable across nations, the methodologies used could lead to different conclusions, so the indicators used in this study could be having dissimilar meaning or calculated using deviating methodologies [ 21 , 27 ]. Thus, the conclusions of this paper depend on the accuracy of the source data that was used.

The other aspect that is crucial to stress is that we are attributing inputs and outputs/impacts to each country. However, this is no valid anymore. Nowadays, R&D has no frontiers, and both the creation and the spillovers of knowledge are increasingly becoming global [ 27 ].

Supporting Information

S1 table. summary statistics..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151328.s001

Acknowledgments

Claudia Gonzalez Brambila would like to thank the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, Asociación Mexicana de Cultura AC and Fulbright-Nexus program for their support. Francisco Veloso would like to acknowledge the support of the NOS Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics.

Authors also acknowledge support from Conacyt-Mexico.

We are grateful to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CNGB LRG FV. Performed the experiments: CNGB LRG FV. Analyzed the data: CNGB LRG FV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CNGB LRG FV. Wrote the paper: CNGB LRG FV MAPA.

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• 18. Nelson R. Ed. National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis. Oxford University Press, New York; 1993.
• 20. Jaffe A. Measurement Issues. In Branscomb L. and Keller J. (ed.), Investing in Innovation: Creating a Research and Innovation Policy that Works. MIT Press, Cambridge; Massachussets, and London, England; 1998, 64–84.

Essay on India is a Developing Country

Students are often asked to write an essay on India is a Developing Country in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on India is a Developing Country

Introduction.

India, located in South Asia, is often referred to as a developing country. This means it’s in a phase of economic and social transformation.

Economic Growth

India’s economy is growing rapidly. It’s a hub for information technology and has a booming service sector. However, agriculture still employs many people.

Social Development

India is making strides in education and healthcare. Yet, challenges like poverty and illiteracy persist, indicating a need for further development.

Despite challenges, India’s progress is commendable. With continued efforts, it’s poised to achieve more growth and development.

250 Words Essay on India is a Developing Country

India, officially known as the Republic of India, is often categorized as a developing nation. Despite being the world’s largest democracy and the seventh-largest country by land area, its economic, social, and political aspects are still in a state of evolution.

Economic Perspective

From an economic viewpoint, India is a mixed bag. It is the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP, thanks to its robust sectors like IT, telecommunications, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, steel, and aviation. However, it still grapples with issues like poverty, unemployment, and a significant informal economy.

Social Aspect

India’s social fabric is a rich tapestry of diverse cultures, languages, religions, and traditions. However, the country faces challenges such as illiteracy, gender inequality, and social discrimination. These issues, coupled with a high population density, make social development a complex task.

Political Landscape

India’s political structure is a federal parliamentary democratic republic, where the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. While the political system has been stable, corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency remain significant hurdles.

In conclusion, India is indeed a developing country, with a vast potential for growth and improvement. Its journey towards development is marked by both achievements and challenges. The nation’s future hinges on how effectively it can address its issues and capitalize on its strengths.

500 Words Essay on India is a Developing Country

India, a country rich in history, culture, and diversity, is classified as a developing nation by various global economic indicators. Despite being the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP, India is still grappling with numerous challenges that hinder its progress towards becoming a developed nation.

India’s Economic Landscape

India’s economy is a mixed bag of traditional agriculture, modern industries, and a multitude of services. The agricultural sector, although decreasing in its contribution to the GDP, still employs a significant portion of the population. The services sector, on the other hand, has seen a steady rise, contributing to over half of India’s GDP. The industrial sector, though growing, has yet to reach its potential due to issues like inadequate infrastructure and regulatory bottlenecks.

Challenges to Development

Despite impressive economic growth, India faces several critical challenges. Poverty and income inequality remain significant issues, with a large segment of the population living under the poverty line. Lack of access to quality education and healthcare, particularly in rural areas, further exacerbates these disparities.

Infrastructure development is another major challenge. Issues like inadequate transport facilities, inconsistent electricity supply, and lack of clean drinking water are prevalent, particularly in rural and underdeveloped regions.

The Demographic Dividend

India’s demographic profile presents both opportunities and challenges. With over 65% of its population under the age of 35, India has a vast pool of young, working-age individuals. This demographic dividend can propel economic growth if harnessed effectively. However, the lack of skills and opportunities, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas, could turn this potential asset into a liability.

Steps Towards Development

India is taking steps to address these challenges. The government has initiated several programs aimed at poverty alleviation, improving healthcare and education, and developing infrastructure. The ‘Make in India’ initiative is aimed at boosting the manufacturing sector and creating jobs. Similarly, the ‘Digital India’ initiative seeks to leverage technology to enhance governance and public services.

India’s journey from a developing to a developed nation is a complex process, requiring concerted efforts to address the numerous challenges it faces. However, with its vast resources, youthful population, and strategic initiatives, India has immense potential to transform its status from a developing to a developed nation. The journey may be long and arduous, but with consistent efforts and strategic planning, India can indeed realize its vision of becoming a global economic powerhouse.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Illiteracy in India
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• Essay on Human Rights in India

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Press Release | New UN report calls for trillions more in development investment to rescue Sustainable Development Goals

New UN report calls for trillions more in development investment to rescue Sustainable Development Goals 

Bold actions needed to scale up SDG investment and reform global financial system

UNITED NATIONS, 9 April 2024 – A new UN report today says financing challenges are at the heart of the world’s sustainable development crisis – as staggering debt burdens and sky-high borrowing costs prevent developing countries from responding to the confluence of crises they face. Only a massive surge of financing, and a reform of the international financial architecture can rescue the Sustainable Development Goals .

The 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report : Financing for Development at a Crossroads (FSDR 2024) says urgent steps are needed to mobilise financing at scale to close the development financing gap, now estimated at USD 4.2 trillion annually, up from USD 2.5 trillion before the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, rising geopolitical tensions, climate disasters and a global cost-of-living crisis have hit billions of people, battering progress on healthcare, education, and other development targets.

“This report is yet another proof of how far we still need to go and how fast we need to act to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. “We are truly at a crossroads and time is running out. Leaders must go beyond mere rhetoric and deliver on their promises. Without adequate financing, the 2030 targets cannot be met.”

With only six years remaining to achieve the SDGs, hard-won development gains are being reversed, particularly in the poorest countries. If current trends continue, the UN estimates that almost 600 million people will continue to live in extreme poverty in 2030 and beyond, more than half of them women.

“We’re experiencing a sustainable development crisis, to which inequalities, inflation, debt, conflicts and climate disasters have all contributed,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua. “Resources are needed to address this, and the money is there. Billions of dollars are lost annually from tax avoidance and evasion, and fossil fuel subsidies are in the trillions. Globally, there is no shortage of money; rather, a shortage of will and commitment.”

According to the report debt burdens and rising borrowing costs are large contributors to the crisis. Estimates are that in the least developed countries debt service will be USD 40 billion annually between 2023 and 2025, up more than 50 per cent from USD 26 billion in 2022. Stronger and more frequent climate related disasters account for more than half of the debt upsurge in vulnerable countries. The poorest countries now spend 12 per cent of their revenues on interest payments — four times more than they spent a decade ago. Roughly 40 per cent of the global population live in countries where governments spend more on interest payments than on education or health.

While investment in SDG sectors had grown steadily in the early 2000s, major sources of development funding are now slowing down. For example, domestic revenue growth has stalled since 2010, especially in LDCs and other low-income countries, in part due to tax evasion and avoidance. Corporate income tax rates are falling, with global average tax rates down from 28.2 per cent in 2000 to 21.1 per cent in 2023, due to globalization and tax competition.

Meanwhile, Official Development Assistance from OECD countries and climate finance commitments are not being met. While ODA increased to an all-time high in 2022, reaching USD 211 billion, from USD 185.9 billion in 2021, much of the growth came from aid to refugees living in donor countries, and the total amount is inadequate for development. Only four countries met the UN aid target of 0.7 per cent of GNI in 2022.

The report concludes that the international financial system, which was set up at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, is no longer fit for purpose. It proposes a new coherent system that is better equipped to respond to crises, scales up investment in the SDGs especially through stronger multilateral development banks, and improves the global safety net for all countries.

The report points to the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024 as a crucial opportunity to change course. It highlights the June 2025 Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) as the critical moment for countries to commit to closing the development financing gap and invest in achieving the SDGs.

FfD4 is an opportunity for countries to:

• Close credibility gaps and rebuild trust in multilateralism.
• Close financing and investment gaps, at scale and with urgency.
• Reform and modernize the outdated international financial architecture and adjust international rules for trade, investment and finance.
• Formulate and finance new development pathways to deliver on the SDGs and ensure no one is left behind.

“Without global cooperation, targeted financing, and, crucially, the political will, the world will not achieve the SDGs,” said Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed. “The clock is ticking. Between now and next year’s FfD4 Conference, we have a once-in-80-year opportunity to comprehensively reform the financial architecture, and a last chance to correct course before 2030. History will not be kind to those with the power to act who fail to do so, while the clock winds down on the planet and its people.”

– ENDS –

Notes to Editors:

• The 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Financing for Development at a Crossroads is a joint product of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development , which is comprised of more than 60 United Nations Agencies and international organizations. The Financing for Sustainable Development Office of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs serves as the substantive editor and coordinator of the Task Force, in close cooperation with the World Bank Group, the IMF, World Trade Organization, UNCTAD, UNDP and UNIDO. The Task Force was mandated by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and is chaired by Li Junhua , United Nations Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs. The full copy of the report will be available at https://financing.desa.un.org/fsdr2024 on 9 April 2024.
• The report forms the basis for discussions at the UN ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development , where Member States discuss measures necessary to mobilize sustainable financing. Negotiations based on the report are ongoing. The report also informs the SDG Investment Fair , a platform which brings together government officials and investors for sustainable investment opportunities that support the achievement of the SDGs. It will also inform discussion at the UN’s Summit of the Future in September 2024.
• The report covers, among others, areas of the global economic context; debt; taxation; international development cooperation; trade; private business and finance; technology; and global governance.

For more information or to request interviews with our experts, please contact:

Rita Ann Wallace, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs | M: +1 516 707 5570 | E: [email protected]

Sharon Birch | UN Department of Global Communications | E: [email protected]

Ingredients for Accelerating Universal Electricity Access: Lessons from Rwanda’s Inspirational Approach

A rural electrification project in Eastern Province, Rwanda.

Photo: Rwanda Energy Group

The goal of lighting up every household is not a dream, but an achievable reality. In a remarkable 15-year journey, Rwanda increased access to electricity to households from 6% in 2009 to 75% as of March 2024. The country has connected 100% of health centers and administrative facilities at the sector level and 84% of schools and most productive users (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises). This electrification expansion was one of the fastest in the world between 2010 and 2020, ranking 11th globally and 3rd in Africa.

What did it take for Rwanda to achieve this, and what can other countries learn from this experience?

Government ownership, leadership, and commitment to universal electrification. Since 2008, the Government of Rwanda (GoR) has been intentional in engraining electrification targets in its development strategies. The Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 1 (EDPRS1 2008-2012) set out targets for electricity connections from 70,000 to 200,000 households, and for institutions providing social and administrative services from 50% to 80%. Likewise, both the EDPRS2 (2013-2018), and the National Strategy for Transformation 1 (2017-2024) set a universal electrification target by 2024.

An accountable and dedicated structure. The Electricity Access Rollout Program was set up in 2008 with a mandate to implement the government's spatial least-cost electricity investment program, anchored on an investment prospectus that integrates technical, financial, and implementation planning components. Following the sector reforms in 2013, the energy sector oversight, management, and operation became the primary responsibility of three institutions:

• Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) for overall policy and strategy of the energy sector and coordination of the development of the electricity sub-sector,
• Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority to regulate energy resources, and
• Rwanda Energy Group (REG) which has two subsidiaries: Electricity Utility Corporation Limited for utility operations, and Energy Development Corporation Limited (EDCL) for planning, new energy development activities, and electrification rollout.

In addition, the government adopted policies to support the uptake of off-grid Solar Home Systems (SHS) through the private sector. It also mandated the Development Bank of Rwanda ( BRD ) to support EDCL by providing financial intermediary services through credit lines and results-based financing to scale up the rollout of SHS - recognizing the importance of the dual track of grid and off-grid electrification in speeding up electrification.

For accountability and performance monitoring, REG and EDCL management sign annual performance contracts ( imihigo ), committing to achieving the annual electrification targets.

Institutional strengthening and capacity building . EDCL has developed the capability to achieve electrification targets and continuously introduce flexibility through various rollout mechanisms to accelerate the pace of electrification. It is now self-sufficient in delivering long and short-term least-cost geo-spatial electrification plans, and is using a mix of international engineering, procurement and construction contractors and in-house and locally based contractors for grid extensions and last-mile connections. Additionally, BRD and EDCL have continued to support each other in advancing off-grid electrification, learning from experience, and continuously adapting a mix of strategies to support the private sector, including programs for affordability to fast-track off-grid electrification.

Funding availability and strong partnerships. Electrification rollout is expensive. It, therefore, requires sufficient funding and dependable partners. Concessional financing from development partners is the predominant source of funds for developing countries which, once secured, recipients should deploy efficiently. The GoR has intentionally formed strong partnerships with development partners and other relevant sector stakeholders. In 2008, the government, supported by the World Bank, worked with development partners to design the Energy Sector-Wide Approach (eSWAp). Its main objective is to enable expansion of access to electricity to meet Rwanda’s national targets. Under the eSWAP, the sector involves all relevant stakeholders in implementing the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, including decisions related to sector strategies, planning, implementation, monitoring, and mobilizing of resources. A sector working group chaired by the Ministry of Infrastructure and co-chaired by development partners in rotation, comprising all relevant stakeholders, guides the eSWAP.

Since the first financing round table held in 2009, Rwanda has mobilized over $1.4 billion from different development partners for electrification, with approximately $750 million from the World Bank. The GoR provides counter-funds of up to 10% through the utility and is reinjecting beneficiaries' connection fees into the electrification program.

Involvement of the private sector : The GoR has involved the private sector in the rollout of off-grid SHS, connecting 22% of households through SHS. BRD and EDCL have designed funding mechanisms to support the private sector with capital requirements, paying close attention to the evolving realities and challenges and adjusting the program’s implementation in response. A Rwanda-pioneered pro-poor results-based financing program (implemented under the Renewable Energy Fund and the Energy Access and Quality Improvement Project ) has successfully helped address affordability and proved successful in the fast-paced rollout of SHS.

Wholistic reforms . Following the structural energy sector reform in 2013, between 2017 and 2020, the government introduced several policies under the $475 million Rwanda Energy Sector Development Policy Operation to ensure fiscal prudence and sustainable electricity sector and service expansion. The policy changes included tariff reforms, least-cost geo-spatial planning along the electricity supply chain, policies to address affordability constraints, inclusion of off-grid in electrification planning, as well as the efficiency and accountability of the utility. As a result, Rwanda has maintained electricity sector subsidies below 1.4% of GDP while aggressively expanding electrification.

Rwanda's success in increasing access to electricity demonstrates that with the appropriate combination of ingredients, countries can accelerate their efforts to achieve universal electrification and meet Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) , helping ensure affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy to all.

Wortld Bank in Rwanda

Energy Access in Eastern and Southern Africa

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Poor Nations Are Writing a New Handbook for Getting Rich

Economies focused on exports have lifted millions out of poverty, but epochal changes in trade, supply chains and technology are making it a lot harder.

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By Patricia Cohen

Reporting from London

For more than half a century, the handbook for how developing countries can grow rich hasn’t changed much: Move subsistence farmers into manufacturing jobs, and then sell what they produce to the rest of the world.

The recipe — customized in varying ways by Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and China — has produced the most potent engine the world has ever known for generating economic growth. It has helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, create jobs and raise standards of living.

The Asian Tigers and China succeeded by combining vast pools of cheap labor with access to international know-how and financing, and buyers that reached from Kalamazoo to Kuala Lumpur. Governments provided the scaffolding: They built up roads and schools, offered business-friendly rules and incentives, developed capable administrative institutions and nurtured incipient industries.

But technology is advancing, supply chains are shifting, and political tensions are reshaping trade patterns. And with that, doubts are growing about whether industrialization can still deliver the miracle growth it once did. For developing countries, which contain 85 percent of the globe’s population — 6.8 billion people — the implications are profound.

Today, manufacturing accounts for a smaller share of the world’s output, and China already does more than a third of it . At the same time, more emerging countries are selling inexpensive goods abroad, increasing competition. There are not as many gains to be squeezed out: Not everyone can be a net exporter or offer the world’s lowest wages and overhead.

There are doubts that industrialization can create the game-changing benefits it did in the past. Factories today tend to rely more on automated technology and less on cheapworkers who have little training.

“You cannot generate enough jobs for the vast majority of workers who are not very educated,” said Dani Rodrik, a leading development economist at Harvard.

The process can be seen in Bangladesh, which the World Bank’s managing director called “one of the world’s greatest development stories” last year. The country built its success on turning farmers into textile workers.

Last year, though, Rubana Huq, chair of Mohammadi Group, a family-owned conglomerate, replaced 3,000 employees with automated jacquard machines to do complex weaving patterns.

The women found similar jobs elsewhere in the company. “But what follows when this happens on a large scale?” asked Ms. Huq, who is also president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

These workers don’t have training, she said. “They’re not going to turn into coders overnight.”

Recent global developments have accelerated the transition.

Supply chain meltdowns related to the Covid-19 pandemic and to sanctions prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up the price of essentials like food and fuel, biting into incomes. High interest rates, imposed by central banks to quell inflation, set off another series of crises: Developing nations’ debts ballooned , and investment capital dried up.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund warned of the noxious combination of lower growth and higher debt.

The supercharged globalization that had encouraged companies to buy and sell in every spot around the planet has also been shifting. Rising political tensions, especially between China and the United States, are affecting where businesses and governments invest and trade.

Companies want supply chains to be secure as well as cheap, and they are looking at neighbors or political allies to provide them.

In this new era, Mr. Rodrik said, “the industrialization model — which practically every country that has become rich has relied on — is no longer capable of generating rapid and sustained economic growth.”

Nor is it clear what might replace it.

There’s a future in service jobs.

One alternative might be found in Bengaluru, a high-tech center in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Multinationals like Goldman Sachs, Victoria’s Secret and the Economist magazine have flocked to the city and set up hundreds of operational hubs — known as global capability centers — to handle accounting, design products, develop cybersecurity systems and artificial intelligence, and more.

Such centers are expected to generate 500,000 jobs nationwide in the next two to three years, according to the consulting firm Deloitte .

They are joining hundreds of biotech, engineering and information technology companies including homegrown giants like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys Limited. Four months ago, the American chip company AMD unveiled its largest global design center there.

“We have to move away from the idea of classic development stages, that you go from the farm to the factory and then from the factory to offices,” said Richard Baldwin , an economist at the IMD in Lausanne. “That whole development model is wrong.”

Two-thirds of the world’s output now comes from the service sector — a mishmash that includes dog walkers, manicurists, food preparers, cleaners and drivers, as well as highly trained chip designers, graphic artists, nurses, engineers and accountants.

It is possible to leapfrog to the service sector and grow by selling to businesses around the world, Mr. Baldwin argued. That is what helped India become the world’s fifth-largest economy .

In Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, a general rise in middle-class living attracted more people and more businesses that, in turn, attracted more people and businesses, continuing the cycle, Mr. Baldwin explained.

Covid sped this transition, by forcing people to work remotely — from a different part of town, a different city or a different country.

In the new model, countries can focus growth around cities rather than a particular industry. “That creates economic activities which are fairly diverse,” Mr. Baldwin said.

“Think Bangalore, not South China,” he said.

Free markets are not enough.

Many developing nations remain focused on building export-oriented industries as the path to prosperity. And that’s how it should be, said Justin Yifu Lin , dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University.

Pessimism about the classic development formula, he said, has been fueled by a misguided belief that the growth process was automatic: Just clear the way for the free market and the rest will take care of itself.

Countries were often pressured by the United States and the international institutions to embrace open markets and hands-off governance.

Export-led growth in Africa and Latin America stumbled because governments failed to protect and subsidize infant industries, said Mr. Lin, a former chief economist at the World Bank.

“Industrial policy was taboo for a long time,” he said, and many of those who tried failed. But there were also success stories like China and South Korea.

“You need the state to help the private sector overcome market failures,” he said. “You cannot do it without industrial policy.”

It won’t work without education.

The overriding question is whether anything — services or manufacturing — can generate the type of growth that is desperately needed: broad based, large scale and sustainable.

Service jobs for businesses are multiplying, but many offering middle and high incomes are in areas like finance and tech, which tend to require advanced skills and education levels far above what most people in developing nations have.

In India, nearly half of college graduates don’t have the skills they need for these jobs, according to Wheebox , an educational testing service.

The mismatch is everywhere. The Future of Jobs report , published last year by the World Economic Forum, found that six in 10 workers will need retraining in the next three years, but the overwhelming majority won’t have access to it.

Other kinds of service jobs are proliferating, too, but many are neither well paid nor exportable. A barber in Bengaluru can’t cut your hair if you’re in Brooklyn.

That could mean smaller — and more uneven — growth.

Researchers at Yale University found that in India and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural workers jumped into consumer service jobs and raised their productivity and incomes.

But there was a catch: The gains were “strikingly unequal” and disproportionately benefited the rich .

With a weakening global economy , developing countries will need to wring every bit of growth they can from every corner of their economies. Industrial policy is essential, Mr. Rodrik of Harvard said, but it should focus on smaller service firms and households because that is going to be the source of most future growth.

He and others caution that even so, gains are likely to be modest and hard won.

“The envelope has shrunk,” he said. “How much growth we can get is definitely less than in the past.”

An earlier version of this article misidentified the location of IMD. It is in Lausanne, not Geneva.

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Patricia Cohen writes about global economics and is based in London. More about Patricia Cohen

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World’s biggest economies pumping billions into fossil fuels in poor nations

G20 countries spent $142bn in three years to expand operations despite a G7 pledge to stop doing so, study finds

The world’s biggest economies have continued to finance the expansion of fossil fuels in poor countries to the tune of billions of dollars, despite their commitments on the climate.

The G20 group of developed and developing economies, and the multilateral development banks they fund, put $142bn (£112bn) into fossil fuel developments overseas from 2020 to 2022, according to estimates compiled by the campaigning groups Oil Change International (OCI) and Friends of the Earth US.

Canada, Japan and South Korea were the biggest sources of such finance in the three years studied, and gas received more funding than either coal or oil.

The G7 group of biggest economies, to which Japan and Canada belong, pledged in 2022 to halt overseas funding of fossil fuels . But while funding for coal has rapidly diminished, finance for oil and gas projects has continued at a strong pace.

Some of the money is going to other developed economies, including Australia, but much of it is to the developing world. However, richer middle income countries still receive more finance than the poorest.

The most recent G7 pledge, in the study, is to phase out all overseas fossil fuel funding by the end of 2022. The OCI study concentrates on the period from the beginning of the fiscal year of 2020-21 for each country, to the end of the fiscal year of 2022-23.

However, the researchers also found that Japan had continued to make new fossil fuel investments overseas in the past few weeks, up to mid-March 2024, exploiting loopholes in its promise to end fossil fuel funding.

The World Bank provided about $1.2bn a year to fossil fuels over the three-year period, of which about two-thirds went to gas projects.

The US, Germany and Italy also provided billions in funding a year to overseas fossil fuel projects before the end of 2022-23, according to the report published on Tuesday. The UK supplied about $600m a year on average.

Canada supplied just under $11bn a year on average , in the 2020-22 period studied, while South Korea put forward $10bn and Japan about $7bn.

Over the same three-year period, the G20 economies put about $104bn into clean energy developments overseas, according to the report.

Claire O’Manique, a public finance analyst at OCI, said: “While rich countries continue to drag their feet and claim they can’t afford to fund a globally just energy transition, countries like Canada , Korea, Japan and the US appear to have no shortage of public funds for climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

“We must continue to hold wealthy countries accountable for their role in funding the climate crisis, and demand they move first and fastest on a fossil fuel phase-out, to stop funding fossil fuels, and that they pay their fair share of a globally just transition, loss and damage and adaptation finance.”

Makiko Arima, a senior finance campaigner at OCI, called on Japan particularly to stop supporting fossil fuels. Japan has lobbied behind the scenes to stop G7 countries adopting a stronger stance on fossil fuels, and in favour of some key projects .

Arima said: “Japan is derailing the transition to renewable energy across Asia and globally. Despite its G7 commitment to end fossil fuel financing, its public financial institutions like the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) continue to support new fossil fuel projects, including the Scarborough gasfield in Australia and gas power plants in Mexico.

“JBIC is currently investigating a claim that it failed to follow its social and environmental safeguards in developing the Philippines’ first LNG [liquefied natural gas] terminal in Batangas. Japan needs to put people and planet over profit, and shift its finances from fossil fuels to renewables.”

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Stocks tumble, dollar firms amid geopolitical risk, mixed central bank views

U.S. stocks sold off sharply on Friday while the dollar jumped as investors grappled with rising geopolitical tensions and persistent inflation that could lead to diverging monetary policy between the U.S. and Europe.