A developed country, or advanced country,^[3][4] is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of economic development are the gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the per capita income, level of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living.^[5] Which criteria are to be used and which countries can be classified as being developed are subjects of debate. Different definitions of developed countries are provided by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; moreover, HDI ranking is used to reflect the composite index of life expectancy, education, and income per capita. Another commonly used measure of a developed country is the threshold of GDP (PPP) per capita of at least US$22,000. In 2023, 40 countries fit all four criteria, while an additional 15 countries fit three out of four.

Developed countries have generally more advanced post-industrial economies, meaning the service sector provides more wealth than the industrial sector. They are contrasted with developing countries, which are in the process of industrialisation or are pre-industrial and almost entirely agrarian, some of which might fall into the category of Least Developed Countries. As of 2023^[update], advanced economies comprise 57.3% of global GDP based on nominal values and 41.1% of global GDP based on purchasing-power parity (PPP) according to the IMF.^[6]

Definition and criteria

Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is the income per capita; countries with the high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would thus be described as developed countries. Another economic criterion is industrialisation; countries in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate would thus be described as developed. More recently, another measure, the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines an economic measure, national income, with other measures, indices for life expectancy and education has become prominent. This criterion would define developed countries as those with a very high (HDI) rating. The index, however, does not take into account several factors, such as the net wealth per capita or the relative quality of goods in a country. This situation tends to lower the ranking of some of the most advanced countries, such as the G7 members and others.^[7][8]

According to the United Nations Statistics Division:

There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United Nations system.^[9]

And it notes that:

The designations "developed" and "developing" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process.^[10]

Nevertheless, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development considers that this categorization can continue to be applied:

The developed economies broadly comprise Northern America and Europe, Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as Australia and New Zealand.^[11]

Similar terms

Terms linked to the concept developed country include "advanced country", "industrialized country", "more developed country" (MDC), "more economically developed country" (MEDC), "Global North country", "first world country", and "post-industrial country". The term industrialized country may be somewhat ambiguous, as industrialisation is an ongoing process that is hard to define. The first industrialized country was the United Kingdom, followed by Belgium. Later it spread further to Germany, United States, France and other Western European countries. According to some economists such as Jeffrey Sachs, however, the current divide between the developed and developing world is largely a phenomenon of the 20th century.^[12]

Mathis Wackernagel calls the binary labeling of countries as "neither descriptive nor explanatory. It is merely a thoughtless and destructive endorsement of GDP fetish. In reality, there are not two types of countries, but over 200 countries, all faced with the same laws of nature, yet each with unique features."^[13]

A 2021 analysis proposes the term emerged to describe markets, economies, or countries that have graduated from emerging market status, but have not yet reached the level equivalent to developed countries.^[14] Multinational corporations from these emerging markets present unique patterns of overseas expansion and knowledge acquisition from foreign countries.

Economy lists by various criteria

Human Development Index (HDI)

The UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges an economy's level of human development. While there is a strong correlation between having a high HDI score and being a prosperous economy, the UN points out that the HDI accounts for more than income or productivity. Unlike GDP per capita or per capita income, the HDI takes into account how income is turned "into education and health opportunities and therefore into higher levels of human development."

Since 1990, Norway (2001–2006, 2009–2019), Japan (1990–1991 and 1993), Canada (1992 and 1994–2000) and Iceland (2007–2008) have had the highest HDI score.

The following countries in the year 2022 are considered to be of "very high human development":^[15]

Rank	Δ	Country or territory	HDI	% annual growth (2010-2022)
1		Switzerland	0.967	0.24%
2	(1)	Norway	0.966	0.25%
3		Iceland	0.959	0.28%
4	(2)	Hong Kong	0.956	0.38%
5	(1)	Denmark	0.952	0.35%
		Sweden		0.38%
7	(8)	Ireland	0.950	0.38%
	(3)	Germany		0.19%
9	(1)	Singapore	0.949	0.25%
10	(1)	Netherlands	0.946	0.26%
	(1)	Australia		0.20%
12	(2)	Liechtenstein	0.942	0.23%
	(3)	Belgium		0.26%
		Finland		0.27%
15	(3)	United Kingdom	0.940	0.24%
16	(7)	New Zealand	0.939	0.13%
17	(19)	United Arab Emirates	0.937	1.04%
18	(5)	Canada	0.935	0.22%
19	(3)	South Korea	0.929	0.36%
20	(1)	Luxembourg	0.927	0.14%
	(5)	United States		0.10%
22	(1)	Slovenia	0.926	0.33%
	(1)	Austria		0.21%
24	(4)	Japan	0.920	0.16%
25	(1)	Israel	0.915	0.26%
	(3)	Malta		0.50%
27		Spain	0.911	0.40%
28	(3)	France	0.910	0.28%
29	(3)	Cyprus	0.907	0.45%
30		Italy	0.906	0.24%
31	(2)	Estonia	0.899	0.33%
32	(6)	Czech Republic	0.895	0.22%
33	(3)	Greece	0.893	0.18%
34	(3)	Bahrain	0.888	0.80%
35	(3)	Andorra	0.884	0.20%
36	(2)	Poland	0.881	0.35%
37	(2)	Latvia	0.879	0.51%
	(2)	Lithuania		0.32%
39	(6)	Croatia	0.878	0.53%
40		Qatar	0.875	0.45%
	(6)	Saudi Arabia		0.70%
42		Portugal	0.874	0.42%
43	(10)	San Marino	0.867	0.32%
44		Chile	0.860	0.47%
45	(9)	Turkey	0.855	1.10%
	(5)	Slovakia		0.14%
47		Hungary	0.851	0.22%
48	(6)	Argentina	0.849	0.15%
49		Kuwait	0.847	0.36%
50	(1)	Montenegro	0.844	0.38%
51	(2)	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.838	0.49%
52	(8)	Uruguay	0.830	0.47%
53	(3)	Romania	0.827	0.14%
54	(1)	Antigua and Barbuda	0.826	0.18%
55	(7)	Brunei	0.823	0.02%
56	(3)	Russia	0.821	0.25%
57	(3)	Bahamas	0.820	0.21%
	(5)	Panama		0.47%
59	(7)	Oman	0.819	0.22%
60	(3)	Trinidad and Tobago	0.814	0.30%
	(4)	Georgia		0.54%
62	(2)	Barbados	0.809	0.18%
63	(6)	Malaysia	0.807	0.41%
64	(5)	Costa Rica	0.806	0.39%
65	(3)	Serbia	0.805	0.39%
66	(6)	Thailand	0.803	0.65%
67	(1)	Seychelles	0.802	0.30%
	(4)	Kazakhstan		0.38%
69	(11)	Belarus	0.801	0.12%

WESP developed economies

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs' World Economic Situation and Prospects report, the following 37 countries are classified as "developed economies" as of January 2024:^[16]

31 countries in Europe: