Deciding which ‘developing’ country list to use: A practical guide

Abstract

AbstractResearchers, policymakers and organisations sometimes need to explicitly classify countries as ‘developing’ or ‘developed’. The problem is that there are too many possible solutions. This short piece explores the developing/developed binary from an empirical perspective. The goal is to provide practical advice for choosing which list to use. It compares seven lists frequently used as reference for this classification, all based on material from these international organisations: World Bank, International Monetary Fund, three separate United Nations lists, as well as membership to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Group of 77. These lists are compared by focusing on four elements: Purpose, Numbers, Criteria and Stability. Then, it compares these lists by explicitly outlining how each one classifies all countries in the world, per region. The piece fills a crucial empirical gap for those using the binary development‐based division by providing practical and useful advice for their decision‐making process.