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I want to leave the obvious highly developed countries like USA, Japan and North/West Europe out of this discussion. I mostly want to focus on countries that are either transitioning into developed countries or are starting to regress. I know highly developed means different things to different people so I figured this would be interesting.
there are many indexes and classifications out there for highly developed countries, using a comprehensive set of criteria. Why would you trust people's opinions or perceptions when there are rigorous studies that do this in a much better way?
It is like polling what do you think the temperature is in a certain place... You can poll all you want and people may say it's 33 degrees or 37 degrees, but then there are devices and ways of measuring things that will give you correct and thoughtful information...
take a look at wikipedia, tons of good info there.
You ask yourself if Spain and Italy are highly developed??
What?
They are not. Institutions function much better in Scandinavia, Germany, Netherlands, Austria or Switzerland... They are parts of the first world because they are part of Western Europe and have "western" values, however they are backwards and traditional in many ways, specially southern Italy. Highly developed in comparison to Norway or Switzerland, dont make me laugh. Even UK and France are backwards in many ways, they are socially broken conutries with a lot of social inequalities and in the case of the UK very high crime rates for "Western" standards.
You ask yourself if Spain and Italy are highly developed??
What?
Yes, this question looks unreal. I can understand if you ask about Poland, Greece or Chile. But Spain and Italy ?! Both countries are very highly developed, rich, good wages and standards of life, amongst the highest in the world in life expectancy and both have A grade infrastructures. The prove: both have millions and millions of immigrants from all around the world. Also both have a brilliant history.
Some parts of southern Italy might be lacking, yet northern Italy is one of the richest regions in Europe. Milano's GDP has nothing to envy to Frankfurt. Madrid's GDP has nothing to envy to Berlin. Spain is more balanced, with a lesser difference between the north and south, but even the southern part of the country looks amazing. I wouldn't call either southern Italy "out of the 1st world" except for some places, like the suburbs of Napoli or some Sicilian cities. Still, both countries are fully developed and considered high incomed countries since the late 70s/early 80s by the World Factbook.
Their economy is strong, that's why they recovered already from the economic crisis and now they are both touching historical GDP records. Spain has a GDP per capita (PPP) of almost 39k$ as of 2018, while Italy has 38k$. In 2019 or 2020 Spain will surpass 40k$ and Italy will be close to 39k$, according to the IMF. How someone with a bit of rationality can ask if these 2 countries are highly developed? It's senseless. I am not blaming Turnerbro, I know some people seriously doubt about it because they have no idea. Someone in this thread said that they're not because "Scandinavia looks better"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turnerbro
I certainly think they are However I've heard some people say they aren't really.
People with no idea or rationality at all. I am sure most wouldn't know to place Spain and Italy on a map.
They are not. Institutions function much better in Scandinavia, Germany, Netherlands, Austria or Switzerland... They are parts of the first world because they are part of Western Europe and have "western" values, however they are backwards and traditional in many ways, specially southern Italy. Highly developed in comparison to Norway or Switzerland, dont make me laugh. Even UK and France are backwards in many ways, they are socially broken conutries with a lot of social inequalities and in the case of the UK very high crime rates for "Western" standards.
Yes, but we restrict the definition of highly developed country in this way, only a few countries - most of them with small population - would qualify: Nordic countries + Benelux + Australasia + Germanosphere + Japan. Maybe it's difficult for people from these countries to understand, but it's extremely hard for almost all countries of the world get rid of all social issues, if at all. And even those full developed countries, nothing assure that they will keep this standard of life.
Out of your list, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Greece, Lithuania
Next comes Poland and Chile
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