The meaning of development

As a concept development is both positive and normative. In common parlance development implies economic development and is distinguished from social development. Economic development is dependent on modernization of tools and techniques of production. United Nations Population Division (2009) has divided all countries of the world into two broad categories: more developed countries and less developed countries. Certain less developed countries are classified further as least developed countries. The classification is as follows: The more developed regions comprise all regions of Europe plus Northern America, Australia/New Zealand and Japan. The less developed regions comprise all regions of Africa, Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America and the Caribbean plus Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The group of least developed countries includes 49 countries - Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Yemen and Zambia. These countries are also included in the less developed regions. Of them 33 are in Africa, 10 in Asia, 1 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 5 in Oceania In this scheme, India belongs to the second region, i.e., the less developed region. The developed countries are marked by: high per capita income, a higher level of urbanization, a high contribution of industry and service sectors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), technological advancement, and a high level of energy use per capita. In overall terms, the level of development is described with the Human Development Index that depends on indicators of education, income and life expectancy. In institutional terms, development is associated with differentiation, specialization, open class mobility, individuation, family nucleation, transparency and parliamentary democracy.