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Degree of development of the countries

Today's world is characterized by great disparities in development. The wealth of a small number of
countries, considered developed, opposes the poverty of others, called poor or "Southern" countries.
However, the boundary between developed countries (PD) and developing countries (DDP) is
sometimes difficult to establish (Fig. 1). In general, the so-called developed countries are also called rich
countries or "Northern" countries due to their geographical location. In turn, developing countries are
home to about four-fifths of the world's population and correspond mostly to Latin America, Africa and
most of Asia. Among these, the poorest, almost a fifth of humanity, are called least developed
countries (LDCs).

Developed countries

Countries with a high production of wealth, which translates into a very high income per person and a
high quality of life index

Developing countries

Countries struggling with economic and/or social difficulties in their development process

Least developed countries

Since 1971, the UN has recognized the least developed countries as a category of States considered
highly disadvantaged in terms of development, by geographic, structural and historical arabs, also
highlighting their vulnerability to extreme economic shocks, natural disasters and those caused by
human beings. humans and communicable diseases. More than 75% of the population of these
countries still lives in poverty.

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PED heterogeneity

The various developing countries have different rates of economic growth and development. When
moving on to a more detailed analysis at an economic, social and cultural level, it is easy to see that,
within these, there are also different types of development.

Newly Industrialized Countries (NPI), a concept that appeared for the first time in 1979, is used to
identify countries that in recent decades have focused on the growth of industry, being close to
developed countries in socioeconomic terms (Doc. 1). These have very dynamic and competitive
economies based on high growth rates that come from strong industrial expansion and affirmation in
international markets. There are several factors that explain the success of these countries.

There are currently 48 countries designated by the United Nations as Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
The inclusion of countries in this category meets three criteria: income, human capital (nutrition, health,
schooling and literacy) and economic vulnerability (Dec. 2). The LDCs comprise about 880 million people
(12% of the world's population), accounting for less than 2% of the world's wealth and about 1% of
world trade.

1st generation NPI: Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. 2nd generation NPI: Thailand,
Philippines , Malaysia and Indonesia . Areas of recent industrialization: Mexico and Brazil.

Percentage of population earning less than $1.25 a day

(2012)

• Burundi 80.3

.Mali 50.4

. Benin 47.3

Bangladesh 43,3

Nepal 24,8

Cambodia 18.6

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The term BRICS was created as a reference to five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
(in English South Africa) (Fig. 2). These emerging countries have common characteristics:

⚫growing economy and stable political situation;

⚫Manpower in large numbers and in the process of qualification,

⚫increasing production and export levels;

⚫mineral resource reserves;

⚫decrease, albeit slow, of social inequalities.

There are also worldwide associations of countries motivated by reasons

economic or political. In this way, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) (Fig. 3) is an
international organization of large oil-producing countries (Fig. 4) that establish privileged economic
relations with each other. Its objectives are:
 ⚫ establish a common oil policy for all member countries bros, safeguarding their individual and
collective interests:

⚫ define production strategies based on customer needs consumer countries;

⚫ control and stabilize oil sales prices on international markets, avoiding unnecessary fluctuations;

⚫control the organization's oil production volume

Meeting in Vienna, OPEC agreed to maintain the current level of production, that is, 30 million barrels
per day. Price stability is seen as a synonym that the current level of supply remains adequate and that
the prices practiced correspond to demand and supply. OPEC's view is positive but prices remain high
due to the crises. Two member countries, Libya and Iran, are producing oil well below their capacity.
Libya due to civil strife and Iran to sanctions.

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Define and evaluate development

The gap that separates developed countries from developing countries remains large, despite the
advances registered in different socioeconomic domains. For a long time, the level of development of
countries was only evaluated based on a quantitative criterion – economic growth. Thus, it was
considered that the more or less equitable distribution of wealth would translate into a global
improvement in the standard of living, leading to development. However, nowadays it is known that
there is no direct correlation between the growth and development of the country and there are several
examples.poles that illustrate it (Doc. 4).

Iran, Togo and Venezuela (Fig. 5) are other examples of countries that have experienced income
declines. However, since 1970, there has been an average increase of 14 years in life expectancy. For
this reason, the overly economistic definition of growth was opposed by the notion of development.
This gives less importance to economic growth and values, above all, other types of quality of life
indicators (health, education, political freedom, human rights, conflict and inequality), that is, it
presupposes the availability of basic goods and services accessible to all individuals.

Economic growth - increase in production and consequent increase in consumption, translated into
different economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI)

GDP-total value of goods and services produced in a country, in relation to all sectors of that country's
economy, in a given period of time, usually one year.

GNI is obtained by adding to GDP the net flow of primary incomes with the rest of the world.

Development - process aimed at improvement of the living conditions of an individual or a country. An

essentially qualitative concept, which presupposes social or political objectives in addition to those of an
economic nature.
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Human development

Human development is concerned not only with the satisfaction of basic needs, but also with the
integral development of the human being, presenting three components:

• Welfare: increasing people's freedoms so they can thrive.

•Training and action: enabling people and groups to act and generate valuable results for the country.

•Justice: expanding equity, sustaining results over time, and respect for human and other right society's
goals. These components are interconnected and their expansion must be achieved within the limits
established by sharing the planet's limited resources (Fig. 6).

Today, most people live longer lives, are better educated and have greater access to goods and services.
Even in countries with difficult economic conditions, people's health and education have improved
significantly. These advances can be analyzed using a composite indicator, the Human Development
Index (HDI). This - combines different simple indicators that represent three fundamental areas of
human development (Fig. 7).

The results of the HDI vary between 0 and 1, that is, values close to 1 represent very high human
development and values close to 0, low human development. The average world HDI has been
increasing progressively, reflecting major improvements in life expectancy, school attendance, literacy
and income of the population. (HDI) - indicator composed of three basic dimensions of human
development - health, education and income.

Average years of schooling - Average number of years of schooling received by persons age 25 and
older, converted from levels of educational attainment using official durations at each level.

Expected years of schooling -Number of years of schooling that a child of school-entry age can expect to
receive, if prevailing patterns of age-based enrollment rates persist throughout his or her lifetime.

Pg15

Development contrasts effect comparative analyzes

In order to compare the different regions or countries, it is necessary to mobilize a set of statistical
indicators that allow quantifying the different social, economic, cultural, environmental realities, among
others (Doc.5). These can be simple and analyze just one phenomenon, or composites, that is, they can
add a set of simple indicators, such as the HDI and the Basic Needs Satisfaction Index, which
demonstrate the asymmetries between levels of well-being. -being of countries (Fig. 8).
 Despite the generalized increase in the values of this measure of well-being, it is expected that, for
example, in sub-Saharan Africa, only in 2353 will this region reach satisfactory levels in meeting this type
of needs.

Economic indicators

Performance analysis is important when talking about development. Income facilitates obtaining food,
housing, clothing and access to other life options. The increase in this presupposes a decrease in poverty
levels in the world (Fig.9).

basic needs satisfaction index (ISNB) - composite measure that

It is based on three indicators: the rate of children reaching the 5th year of schooling, the mortality rate
of children under 5 years of age and the rate of deliveries attended by qualified medical personnel.

statistical indicators

economic

- GDP.

- Unemployment rate.

Social

- Houses served by piped water.

- Number of doctors per inhabitant.

Demographics

- Crude birth rate.

- Hope of life.

Cultural

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When moving on to a more detailed analysis of some indicators; In economic terms, such as GDP/per
capita, it appears that large inequalities still persist, both within each society and between regions of the
world (Fig. 10).

The world is now richer than ever, with continued growth in output, resulting in part from the rapid
development of Asian economies. Forecasts suggest that China will overtake the United States of
America in 2050, becoming the world's largest economy (Doc. 6). In parallel with this Chinese growth,
internal disparities in terms of income distribution are expected to increase, widening the gap between
rich and poor (Fig.11).

GDP/per capita-quotient between GDP and total resident population.

Gini coefficient - measure of the deviation of the distribution of income (or consumption) between
individuals or families within a country from a perfectly equal distribution.

PG 17

However, the control of communicable diseases, such as smallpox, diphtheria and tuberculosis, as well
as improvements in hygiene and other public health practices, particularly in developing countries,
played a key role in the progress achieved.

Also in terms of maternal mortality, there has been remarkable progress (Fig. 13). Between 1990 and
2013 this decreased by around 45%, as a result of improvements introduced in the health area, such as:

⚫Increased use of maternal care services (vaccination campaigns, oral rehydration, breastfeeding and
complementary feeding); ⚫ Dissemination of innovations in medicine.

In terms of public expenditure on health, discrepancies are still very large between different groups of
countries (Fig. 14).

Did you know that... 300 million adults will suffer from diabetes in 2025, more than double in 1997.

73 years old will be the average longevity of babies born in 2025, against 67.2 years in 2006.

11.4 million people will die of cancer in 2030.

100 billion of euros will be the loss resulting from the loss of productivity attributable to HIV/AIDS in
sub-Saharan Africa until 2020

Did you know that...

Oral rehydration is a powder composed of sodium, potassium, glucose and citrate used in case of mild
or moderate dehydration in adults and children.

PG18

Food

In terms of food, the world is also divided: on the one hand, some suffer from infectious diseases typical
of malnutrition (Fig. 15), on the other hand, there is an increasing number of chronic diseases typical of
malnutrition. overnutrition (Fig. 16).
 Intake of sufficient food is the most basic need to ensure health, however this is not yet ensured in all
countries of the world, as caloric disparity continues to be a global problem (Fig. 17 and Doc 7).

Malnutrition - lack or deficient intake of calories in a diet.

Overnutrition - excess calorie intake in a diet.

Did you know that...The average calorie intake for women is 2000 kcal/per day and for men it is 2500
kcal/per day.

WHO warns that Portugal is one of the countries with the most overweight children"[...] In Europe, more
than 27% of children aged 13 and 33% aged 11 are overweight. Portugal is among the countries with the
worst indicators: at age 11, 32% of children are overweight. The WHO reveals "worrying levels" of excess
weight resulting from poor diet and physical inactivity [...]".

PG119

Education

As in health, the history of education is one of rapid progress and convergence between rich and poor
countries.However, when analyzing the expected years of schooling worldwide, it is easy to see that,
despite the improvements, discrepancies between countries still persist (Fig. 18).

In terms of school infrastructure, most developing countries still have a long way to go (Fig. 19), as well
as promoting equal opportunities in access to education. By analyzing another social indicator - primary
school completion rate by gender - it can be seen that, as a general rule, these countries tend to favor
boys to the detriment of girls (Fig. 20).

Expected years of schooling - number of years of schooling a child of school-entry age can expect to
receive, if prevailing patterns of age-based enrollment rates persist throughout his or her lifetime.

PG120

World HDI distribution

The Human Development Index is the composite indicator, launched in 1990 by the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), which is used most frequently to assess the degree of human
development and to establish comparisons between different countries. worldwide (Fig. 21).
 The values shown in Fig. 21 refer to a total of 187 countries that, according to the 2014 Human
Development Report, appear

one hundred classified with an HDI:

⚫ low for values below 0.550;

⚫ average for values between 0.550 and 0.699;

⚫ high for values between 0.700 and 0.799;

.very high for values equal to or greater than 0.800.

As a general rule, the countries occupying the highest positions in terms of the HDI are considered to be
developed countries (Dec. 8). However, there are some exceptions: Israel, Cuba, Chile and Argentina,
among others, have a very high HDI, despite being part of the PED group. In turn, the countries that
have a low HDI belong to the group of developing countries and LDCs and, for the most part, are located
in the African continent (Doc.9).

Highest HDI in 2013

1st Norway

0.944

2nd Australia

0.933

3. Switzerland

4. Netherlands

0.917

0.915

5. United States of America

0.914

Lowest HDI in 2013

 183. Sierra Leone

0.374

184. Chad

0.372

185. Rep. Central African

186. Congo

0.341

0.338

187. Niger

0.337

PAGE 21

Limitations of the HDI

Like all indicators, the HDI can also be considered incomplete. There are those who pose problems in
relation to its elaboration and composition and there are those who suggest the inclusion of more
dimensions, from gender equality to biodiversity (Doc. 10). As with any indicator, when quantifying a
given phenomenon to allow comparison between countries, it ends up simplifying and capturing only a
part of what human development is, and is therefore limited.

hus, some limitations to the HDI are pointed out, namely:

⚫does not have any dimension related to environmental sustainability, an increasingly important
component in human development:

does not provide any information on the regional inequalities of each country, as is the case with Brazil
and its municipalities (Fig.22)

⚫is strongly influenced by the economic growth indicator (gross national income/per capita), which is
very susceptible to short-term variations;

⚫ based on indicators based on averages, which are not very sensitive to social programs, even when
these produce significant results in the medium and long term in the fields of health and education

(Doc. 11).
 However, despite the inconveniences presented, the HDI continues to be the

most used and most complete indicator to assess human development.

"(...) the HDI captures some people's choices and leaves out many others that people may value
immensely - economic, social and political freedom, and protection from violence, insecurity and
discrimination, to name just a few. some.

Reforms in Lebanon: Improving the efficiency of the health system

In 1998, Lebanon spent 12.4% of its GDP on health. Since then, a series of reforms have been
implemented: the revitalization of the public primary care network; improving the quality of public
hospitals; and improving the rational use of medical technologies and medicines. The latter included
increasing the use of certified generic drugs.