What separates the developed world from the transitional nations?
There are many factors that separate the developed world from the transitional nations. According to United nation Statistic Division, there are no fixed criteria to distinguish between developed and transitional world. However, socio-economic indicators, political maturity, condition of health and education sectors and general awareness of the masses are the factors most commonly used to make the distinction between developed and developing countries.
The biggest difference between the developed and the developing world lies in the socio-economic sphere. Developed countries are much more stable economically, they have high labor wages and they have lower unemployment rate. In contrast, the developing countries are growing, but their economies are still not very strong and liable to serious economic depressions. Flourishing economy is a chief characteristic of a developed country, in contrast developing nations has just begun to improve their economic plight. Transitional countries have higher unemployment rate than the developed world. A developed country like Australia has the unemployment rate of 5.2, whereas Brazil, a developing country, has the unemployment rate of '7.8'. Per capita income in the developed world is considerably higher than the developing nations. In developed countries like Japan, France or Canada the per capita income is above 12,000$, while in most of the developing countries the per capita income is around 4,000 dollars.
Similarly, developed countries exports include high-value goods while transitional nations, usually, exports raw material and low-value finish products. Developed countries are highly industrialized and some of them are even in the stage of post-industrialization, whereas transitional world is still developing its home industry and still largely depends upon the developed world for industrialized goods. International trade is also primarily dominated by the developed world; though the share of developing nations is increasing, it is lower in contrast with the developed nations’ share.
Moreover, Tax collection mechanism and tax collection rate of the developed world is better than that of the transitional world. From a technological point of view, the transitional world largely depends upon the developed countries. The technological and scientific aspect is an important difference between the two worlds. However, since the availability of facilities is greater in the developed world the cost of living is also higher as compared to the transitional world. The average cost of living in Australia--a developed country—is around USD 39,407 whereas in a developing country like Turkey it is close USD 13,500. Overall, in the sphere of economy the developed countries are better placed than the transitional countries.
In all the areas related to social welfare and quality of life the developed world stands far ahead of the developing world. Though the gap is declining, yet the difference is quite significant. Developed nations spend large amounts on social welfare and socio-economic security. On the other hand, transitional nations are far behind in this respect. Public health sector in developed countries has a very high quality, they associate great importance to the health, and the facilities in heath sectors are commendable. On the contrary, the condition of health sector of the developing nations is not enviable; they do not spend much on the heath care system. Consequently, the child and maternal mortality rates in the developed world are much lower in comparison to the transitional nations. Due to the poor public health sector, the child mortality rate in the transitional world is high. In the developing world, the child mortality rate is five times higher than that of the developed world. Social security net in the transitional world is weaker than that of the developed countries and that is why the number of people living below the poverty line is higher in the developing countries.
Education sector is another marked distinction between developed and transitional nations. Developed countries allocate a large portion of budgets for the education sector while developing nations are far behind in this regard. Index of quality and availability of education is much higher in the developed world, and as a result, the level of awareness and the rate of literacy are higher in the developed nations. Though the transitional world is improving in the education sector, yet there is a lot of work to be done. In the area of food security, the developed countries have high nourishment values and abundance of safe and clean water supply, and they supply safe and better quality food to their citizens. On the other hand, nourishment values of transitional countries are not quite high and their standards of hygiene and safety are also not very impressive. Aggregated effect of all these factors is that the standard of living in the developed world as a whole is much better than the standard of living in the transitional world.
In addition to that, the differences in the field of politics also separate the developed world from the transitional world. The political institutions of the developed world are mainly based upon the liberal and republican democracy, and their political institutions have very strong roots in the society whereas the transition of the developing country towards democracy is recent. Most of the developing countries were under non-democratic regimes until fairly recently. Transitional countries of Eastern Europe are a significant example in this regard; most of the countries of Eastern Europe were under the communist and non-democratic regimes as recently as two decades ago. The people in the developed countries are much aware politically, whereas the public of transitional countries is still a little immature. As a consequence, the politics in the developed world is issue-based while in the transitional countries, politics still revolves around personalities. The democratic culture of the developed nations is much more mature and developed; on the other hand, transitional countries are still learning the norms of democracy.
To conclude, the biggest divide between the developed world and the transitional nations lies in the socio-economic sphere and political structure. The developing countries suffer from social inequalities, low social security and political upheaval. Whereas, developed countries have a flourishing economy, a stable political system, and a strong social security net. All in all, the transitional countries have a modest living standard, while in the developed world living standard is quite high.
Works Cited
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Ivanov, George. "The Cultural Issues that Continue to Divide Eastern and Western Europe." 11 March 2008. worldissues360.com. Web. 26 October 2014.
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