What is Economic Underdevelopment?

The word economic underdevelopment, is formed by applying the prefix sub, whose meaning is "below", to the word development, to refer to what is below development.

In the economic sphere, we talk about development, alluding to countries with a certain social welfare obtained Thanks to its productive capacity, in this sense it can be said that there are developed countries and countries underdeveloped.

This is a concept used to mention the situation of a country that does not have the level of development adequate socioeconomic, that is, it is used to indicate that the development of a certain country is below certain level.

What is economic underdevelopment?

It is the situation of a region or country or region, when its capacity to produce social welfare or wealth, is not enough certain levels considered optimal, being in a state of backwardness when making a comparison with the state of more prosperous.

It is important to note that there is no specific criterion to qualify a country as underdeveloped, in general it is linked to precarious economies, with very low productive capacity, deficiency of public services and a high rate of poverty.

It can be determined that a underdeveloped country It is one in which its inhabitants have difficulty and inability to enjoy services and basic elements to have quality of life such as, for example, sanitation services, drinking water, housing, electricity, education, decent employment and sometimes even feeding.

In general the underdevelopment It is seen as a qualification of the countries that refers to the lack of productive mechanisms, goods and services, so it is used as synonymous with poverty, since it also implies deficiencies greater than material wealth, such as financial independence, quality of life and equality Social.

Characteristics of underdevelopment

Economic Delay

• Countries that have not reached a maximum or adequate level of production.
• Activities such as agriculture, livestock, fishing, mining and other activities belonging to the primary sector predominate.
• Unfavorable foreign trade system, an exchange is carried out with other countries from positions of dependency or inferiority.
• Underutilization of the country's resources, which contributes to the inefficiency of the productive system.
• Disunity of the productive system, apart from the concentration of the primary sector and there is a total disconnection between this and the other productive sectors

Political backwardness

• Lack of strong democratic institutions. Existence of weak democracies, due to institutional lack, anarchy, corruption, impunity and social failures of organized coexistence
• Existence of corrupt regimes.
• Excessive military dependence on other countries, considered foreign powers.

Social retardation

• Alarming poverty rate.
• High unemployment and underemployment rate.
• Little access of the general population to education.
• Difficulty enjoying basic services, health and food.
• Poor distribution of wealth among the inhabitants, with a part of the population very rich and another with extreme poverty.

Causes of economic underdevelopment

In trying to find the causes of underdevelopment there have been many theses, most have been unsatisfactory when trying to explain the problem.

For some time, religious and racial criteria were spoken of as a cause of underdevelopment, justifying racist and xenophobic ideologies, which today are still not overcome. However, examples of racially distinct and successful nations are seen in Caucasian Europe, as if to deny this reasoning.

Others pointed to the climate, areas with a harsh climate would have denied the conditions to form a productive agriculture or exploit marketable resources.

On the other hand, historical criteria speak of colonialism (European and North American) that kept weaker nations in a convenient state of backwardness, countries that After achieving their independence, they began to compete with great inequality with their former oppressors, who were strengthened with the wealth that years robbed them behind.

In short, various forms of collective attitude to progress that cause some countries to remain in underdevelopment.

Why is a country underdeveloped?

It is not impossible for a country to achieve development, for this it is necessary to exceed some goals, make changes and a certain amount of hard work. In general, an underdeveloped country is like this because:

• Works ineffectively.
• It leads a mismanagement of its resources.
• The state uses very little taxes to make improvements.
• There is a lot of administrative disorder
• Poor distribution of resources.

Consequences of underdevelopment

The consequences can be measured according to the deficiencies generally perceived by the population, at the level of life expectancy, access to basic services, health, education, food, personal freedom, among others.

These consequences are also difficult to control, they are quite clear, they tend to represent the scheme of deficiencies that originally produced them, such as:

• Poverty, misery, famine.
• Dependence on foreign countries.
• Socio-economic inequality.
• Political instability,
• Democratic inconsistency.
• High rates of violence.

Possible solutions to economic underdevelopment

There are multiple theories regarding overcoming underdevelopment, some emphasize the historical repair of developed nations that were oppressors of nations in underdevelopment, other theories place responsibility on the country itself and are based on overcoming cultural schemes that in a certain way symbolize an obstacle to growth of the same.

The regional unification of underdeveloped countries and the exchange with large economies and their interventionist aspirations are also discussed. This has motivated political integration initiatives and common markets with fewer restrictions and taxes.

However, the reality is that the solution lies in putting aside the thought that awaits solutions. from heaven, cultures that have loaded their problems onto others and want their solutions to be provided by others. It is necessary to increase the capacity to generate wealth, therefore, to produce goods and services that allow a better quality of life for the population.

Finally, as a reference, it is worth mentioning the human development index measured by the UN, which includes, among other indicators, GDP, life expectancy, and literacy. Indicating as underdeveloped countries with less development than most nations to Niger, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.

On the other hand, the UN report refers to four categories within the aforementioned human development:

• Low Human Development: Where 46 countries considered underdeveloped countries are found, for example, Kenya, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Chad, Solomon Islands, etc.
• Usually average human development: Include Algeria, Dominican Republic, Jordan, etc.
• Human development is classified high: Countries like Uruguay, Bulgaria, etc.
• Very high human development: United States, Spain, Germany, Norway, etc.