A presentation of the Problems Developing Countries are facing.

1. PROBLEMS OF THE THIRD
WORLD COUNTRIES
Chapter 5

2. Third World Countries
• The exact origin of the term “Third World
Countries” is still unclear.
• However, it is believed that the term was
originally coined in times of the Cold War
to distinguish those nations that are
neither aligned with the West (NATO) nor
with the East, the Communist block.

3. Third World Countries
• Today the term refer to the less
developed or developing countries.
These are the nations that emerged
from their colonial periods – at least
politically.

4. 2011 LIST OF DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
• Afghanistan
• India
• American Samoa
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Benin
• Bhutan
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Cambodia
• Central African
Republic
• Chile
• China
• Congo, Dem. Rep.
• Congo, Rep.
• Cuba
• Haiti
• Indonesia
• Iran, Islamic Rep.
• Iraq
• Jamaica
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Kiribati
• Korea, Dem. Rep.
• Peru
• Philippines

5. It can be noticed that Third World countries are
mostly from Africa, Asia and Latin America

6. Characteristics of the
Third World Countries

7. Developing countries have
common characteristics. And
these are the root cause of
their poverty.

8. Subsistence Agricultural
Economy

9. • The main economy of a less developed
country depends on agriculture. Most of its
people work in agriculture.
• In most of Africa, Asia, and much of Latin
America, a large percentage of people are
primarily involved with feeding themselves
from their own land and livestock.

10. • However, Third World Countries,
are mostly adopting subsistence
agricultural economy.
–Subsistence agriculture is self-
sufficiency farming in which the
farmers focus on growing enough food
to feed themselves and their families.

11. Characteristics of Subsistence
Agricultural Economy
1. Natural calamities can easily
shake the stability of such
economy.
- drought, flood, typhoon etc.

12. Natural calamities

13. 2. Prices of demand are subject to
the decisions of the industrial
countries.
–the industrial countries put up
unreasonable trade barriers to the
detriment of agricultural products.
– “beggar thy neighbor” policies

14. • Trade barriers are any of a number of
government-placed restrictions on trade
between nations. The most common sorts of
trade barriers are things like subsidies, tariffs,
quotas, duties, and embargoes.
–Tariffs are a fairly common form of trade
barriers, either (1) a tax on imports or
exports(trade tariff) in and out of a country.

15. • Trade between EU Member States and trade
with Norway and Iceland takes place
according to the special rules that apply to the
internal market of the EU.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture imposes
extensive regulatory controls on agricultural
markets.

16. • A Kenyan commentator about regulatory
trade barriers:
“why do developed countries impose their
environmental ethics on poor countries that are
simply trying to pass through a stage they
themselves went through?”
“If only people in developed countries… could see…
the millions who are poverty stricken, sick, starving
and even dying… they send us aid, but it would be
better if they let us trade with them.”

17. Agricultural Products vs. Industrial Products

18. 3. Low productivity due to improper
farming method, insufficient
knowledge .
4. Insufficient government funds,
facilities and support.

19. VS.

21. Per capita income
• Per capita income is obtained by dividing national
income of a country by its population in the year.
Per capita income = national income in a year
population in the year
• It is the average income of an average person in
that country.

22. Per capita income
• World Bank compares the economic condition
of the different countries by comparing their
real per capita income. This determines which
part of the world is rich and which is poor.
• The concept of per capita income is used as an
indicator to measure economic development of
a country.

23. Third World Countries in Terms of their Gross
National Income (GNI)
Rank Country/Region GNI per capita
1 Timor-Leste/ South-East Asia *400
2 Malawi/ Eastern Africa 596
3 Somalia/ Eastern Africa *600
4 Congo/ Middle Africa 675
5 Tanzania/ Eastern Africa 720
6 Yemen/ Middle East 745
7 Burundi/ Eastern Africa 753
8 Afghanistan/Central Asia *800
9 Guinea-Bissau/ Western Africa 856
10 Ethiopia/Eastern Africa 859
11 Niger/ Western Africa 896
12 Liberia/ Western Africa *900
13 Sierra Leone/ Western Africa 901

24. Top 10: First World Countries in terms of their
Gross National Income
Rank Country/Region GNI per Capita
1 Luxembourg/Western Europe 66 821
2 Norway/Northern Europe 41 941
3 United States/North America 41 557
4 Ireland/Northern Europe 40 003
5 Bermuda (overseas territory of the UK) *36 000
/North America
6 Iceland/Northern Europe 35 686
7 Denmark/Northern Europe 34 718
8 San Marino/Southern Europe *34 600
9 Canada/North America 34 444
10 Switzerland/ Western Europe 33 168

25. Causes of low per capita income
• Third world Countries have low per
capita income – since the national
income of a poor country is low and it is
overpopulated.

26. Causes of low per capita income
• The various causes of low per capita income of
the LDCs can be categorized in the following
groups:
1. National Income side causes - National
income is low
2. Population side causes -

27. Causes of low per capita income
National Income Side
Cause:
a. Backwardness of
agriculture sector
b. Industrial backwardness
c. Limited savings and
investment
d. Unfavorable balance of
trade
e. Shortage of technical
hands
f. Problem of
unemployment
g. Low labor efficiency
h. Inadequate transport
and communication
facilities
i. Absence of innovative
capabilities
j. Political instability
k. Corrupt bureaucracy

28. First World Countries
vs.
Third World Countries
In First World Countries In Third World Countries

29. First World Countries
vs.
Third World Countries

30. High Birth Rate

31. High Birth Rate
• The less developed countries
have very high birth rates.

32. Rank Country (births/1,000
population)
Date of
Information
1
2
Niger
Uganda
50.06
47.38
2011 est.
2011 est.
3 Mali 45.15 2011 est.
4 Zambia 43.51 2011 est.
5 Burkina Faso 43.20 2011 est.
6 Ethiopia 42.59 2011 est.
7 Somalia 42.12 2011 est.
8 Burundi 40.58 2011 est.
9 Malawi 40.42 2011 est.
10 Congo, Republic of the 40.09 2011 est.
Top 10 Countries with the
Highest Birth Rates

33. Countries with the Low Birth Rates
Country births/1,000 population
1 Monaco 6.94
2 Japan 7.31
3 Germany 8.30
4 Singapore 8.50
5 Korea, South 8.55
6 Austria 8.67
7 Czech Republic 8.70
8 Slovenia 8.85
9 Bosnia and Herzegovina 8.89
10 San Marino 9.02

34. Reasons for High birth rates
• Many parents will have a lot of children in the
expectation that some will die because of the
high infant mortality rate
• Large families can help in looking after the farm
• The children will be able to look after their
parents if they become old or sick; there may not
be a old age pension scheme
• There may be a shortage of family planning
facilities and advice

35. Developed countries have low birth rates
because:
• It is expensive to look after large families
• More women prefer to concentrate on their
careers
• Increasing sexual equality has meant women
have more control over their own fertility
• There is a ready availability of contraception
and family planning advice

36. Implications of High Birth Rate
• High birth rates leads to increase in
population especially when birth rate is faster
than mortality rate.
• A significant feature of the LDC’s is its young
population.
• This means, more dependent and less
productive human capital.

37. High Illiteracy

38. Literacy
• Literacy helps accelerate economic
development. It is easier to impart proper
attitudes, values, knowledge and skills to
people who are literate. People become more
rational and productive when they are trained
or educated.

39. Literacy
• Fajardo defined literacy as the ability to read
and write in their own dialects.
• In 1930 the U.S. Bureau of the Census defined
illiterate as any person over ten years of age
who was unable to read and write in any
language.

40. Illiteracy
• By the next census (1940), however, the
concept of “functional” illiteracy was adopted,
and any person with less than five years of
schooling was considered functionally
illiterate, or unable to engage in social
activities in which literacy is assumed.

42. Reasons of High Illiteracy
• Poverty
• Inadequate Budget
• Lack of schools and
teaching staff
• High Fees not Affordable
• Religious Matters
• Insufficient Funds
• Feudal, Tribal or other
Systems
• Political Conflicts or
Hurdles
• Agricultural States
In an article written by Madeeha Rashid she mentioned
that good education is “A Challenge to Third World”
due to these reasons:

43. Third World Countries First World Countries

46. Health, ill-health and poverty
“We are all poor here, because we have no
school and no health center. If a woman has a
difficult delivery, a traditional cloth is tied
between two sticks and we carry her for seven
kilometers to the health center. You know how
long it takes to walk like that? There is nobody
who can help here, that’s why we are all poor
here.
- Togo, 1996

47. High death rates
Country
deaths per 1,000
population
1 Angola 23.40
2 Afghanistan 17.39
3 South Africa 17.09
4 Nigeria 16.06
5 Russia 16.04
6 Ukraine 15.74
7 Chad 15.47
8 Guinea-Bissau 15.27
9 Lesotho 15.19
10 Central African Republic 15.01

48. Poor Health
• Many people on the less developed countries
are afflicted with poor health.
• In developing countries, millions of people
suffer from avoidable health problems—such
as infectious diseases, malnutrition, and
complications of childbirth—simply because
they are poor (April 2004, Population Reference Bureau).

49. • Many people in the less developed
countries are either malnourished or
undernourished. That make them
susceptible to diseases.
–Malnourished, not fed up with healthy food
–Undernourished, not fed up with enough
food

50. The Undernourished Map

51. Reasons for Poor Health
• Hunger - hunger and malnutrition are
seen as underlying causes of many
diseases.

52. • lack of safe water
• Sanitation problems – In Bangladesh, for
example, poor people point out the scarcity of
latrines, and say that long queues often form
outside toilets.
• poor housing or shelters, and often in
dangerous or unstable areas.
• Poor hospital facilities especially
in far-flung places
• No access to support, information
and services.

53. “Everything is contaminated, land, water, plants, and
people.”
- Community member, Ecuador
It’s draughty, humid, leaking. Just try live here in winter.
Our children have fallen ill. And the adults too. There
are bugs, cockroaches, what have you. It’s cold.
- Roma men and women, Bulgaria
“Just look how the kids are playing in the street with so
much dirt. The water in the streets brings infections,
and it is because of a lack of a sewage system…
- A woman, Barrio las Pascuas, Bolivia

54. Negative Attitudes,
Values and Institutions

55. • Some pervasive attitudes, values and
institutions in the less developed countries are
not favorable to economic development.
• As mentioned by Fajardo, the greatest
obstacle to development is MAN HIMSELF.
• The development of people is the only real
and enduring kind of development.

56. Negative Attitudes and Values
and Institutions
• In an article written by *James Shikwati, Why
America Will Always Be Richer Than Other
Nations, he enumerated the negative
attitudes of people from the Third World
Countries that contribute to their poverty as
compared to developed countries like America
and several countries in Europe.

57. • Tardiness
• Laziness
• Resistance to change
• Lack of self-reliance
• Colonial mentality
• Fatalism
• Nepotism
• Extravagance – lavish
and unnecessary
expenditures
• Poor systems

59. Inefficient Public
Administration
• Public administration has been generally
inefficient in many developing countries.
– high degree of nepotism and personal
connections
– Government corruption
– the lack of effective supervision

60. 5 most corrupt countries
1. Somalia
2. North Korea
3. Myanmar
4. Afghanistan
5. Uzbekistan, Sudan,
Turkmenistan (tied)

61. High Rate of
Unemployment

62. Unemployment
• The labor force is extremely
underutilized in the less developed
countries.
–Unemployment refers to a situation
where people who are willing and able
to work cannot find a job

63. –Underemployment means people are
working on part-time basis; . It may also
include those who work on full-time but
their productivity is extremely low
–disguised unemployment which pertains to
people who are actually working but they
have no real economic contributions to
production

64. Reasons for High rate of
unemployment
• High population
• Poor education
• Agriculture and a changing
environment
• Few job opportunities

65. Unemployment Rates of some
countries
Country (%) Date of Information
Zimbabwe 95.00 2009 est.
Nauru 90.00 2004 est.
Namibia 51.20 2008 est.
Haiti 40.60 2010 est.
Afghanistan 35.00 2008 est.
Spain 21.70 2011 est.
Nigeria 21.00 2011 est.
Philippines 7.00 2011 est.

66. THE PROBLEMS
OF LESS
DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES

69. Problems of the third world country