ABSTRACT
The United Nations (UN) classifies countries into developed (or industrial) and developing, based on their level of economic and industrial development. A sub-group of developing countries are designated as least developed countries (LDCs). These are countries with very low per capita income. Based on this classification, in 1998, of 179 countries, 50 were classified as industrial and 129 as developing of which 48 were designated as LDCs. Despite this classification, there are countries which possess some features typical of developed and other characteristics typical of developing countries. For example, countries in the Middle East, have been described as being neither exclusively developed or developing, but ‘in-between’ with wide variations of wealth (Stephen 1992).
