Poverty in the Developing World - Latin America And The Caribbean, The Central Asian Republics, North Korea

Developing countries are those with incomes (in terms of gross domestic product, or GDP) that fall between the least developed countries and the industrialized nations. Most countries in the world can be described as "developing": neither hopelessly poor nor hopefully rich. These countries have segments of deep, absolute poverty and instances of great wealth in their populations, but their overall economies fall below even that of a middle-income country such as Russia. At the same time, however, in terms of government and general standards of living, progress can be seen over time. Industry and technology in developing nations shows progress, too—often aided by an abundance of natural resources—but they may be hampered by militarism, violent unrest between classes and ethnic groups, political instability, and persistent poverty. Nevertheless, many developing countries have experienced impressive economic growth because of their increasingly important role in the global market as they open their economies to international trade and learn to leverage their natural resources for greater returns.