The United Nations has divided countries into three major categories, namely, developed countries, developing countries and underdeveloped countries. This classification is based on various factors, economic status being the most immediate, including important parameters like Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Product, Per Capita Income, standard of living etc. The term ‘developed counties’ mostly refers to those which have highly progressed economies and have shown great technological progress, as compared to most other nations. Countries like the United States, Britain and Japan can be categorised as developed countries. On the other hand, developing countries are those which display low industrialization and low human development index. Countries like India and Pakistan can be put under this category. An underdeveloped country is a country which is not economically as developed as the advanced countries and has a very low per capita income coupled with widespread poverty, and whose residents live in very dreadful conditions. Countries like Nepal, Bhutan and many African counties fall under this category. There are various qualitative as well as quantitative factors which help us to calculate these economic indices.
India is classified as a developing country with its GDP amounting to 2.6 lakh crores USD in 2017 according to World Bank estimates. It’s the world’s fifth largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest by purchasing power parity. According to IMF, on a per capita basis, India ranked 142nd by GDP and 119th by GDP per capita in the year 2018. In spite of all these factors we will find out why the Indian Economy is lagging behind the developed economies.
