The globalization of the global economy and increased competition are forcing countries to form groups. By the way, the inclusion of a country in any group can be used by researchers as a methodological technique that allows a better understanding of the standard of living in it. The unification of states takes place on a variety of grounds, from the size of the territory and geographical location to the level of economic development and individual industries.
Economic integration
Any kind of real association is aimed at achieving economic goals. Groupings of countries arise mainly with the goal of creating a common economic space. In almost all continents, associations of countries are created that facilitate the free movement of goods and services, capital and labor. The most successful economic groupings of countries:
- European Union;
- NAPHTHA;
- Eurasian Economic Union;
- ASEAN.
The most advanced association is the European Union, which already has a single currency, supranational governments and a single economic space. Other associations began with the organization of a common market, with the free movement of resources with one or another specificity. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it is dominated by the United States, and Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Canada are "manufacturing workshops." However, in the framework of this association there is no free movement of labor.
The goal of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is to become the world's industrial base. The Eurasian Economic Union plans to create a common economic space.
There are integration economic groups of countries on almost all continents, while countries can be included in several associations.
Economic classification of countries
According to the level of socio-economic development of the country, it is customary to divide into three blocks:
- The largest number of countries are developing. We are talking about more than 120 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. They have a relatively poorly developed industry (in many ways this is only the primary processing of raw materials) and a large agricultural sector. Many have not resolved the food problem and there is great unemployment. This grouping of countries is characterized by unsustainable economic development, technological lag and low labor productivity. On the other hand, the named group includes India, one of the largest economies in the world, which is making progress in high technologies.
- The most developed countries in the world include the countries of Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as several Asian states. All of them have a developed market economy, a high level of income, the services sector dominates in the economy, and industry produces high-tech products.
- There is also a grouping of countries that occupies an intermediate position, according to the economic classification of the UN and the IMF. They are not classified as developed or developing countries. For example, these are countries of Eastern Europe, Russia and other CIS countries.
Geography and demography
These are probably the very first ways to classify countries. By the size of the territory, seven largest countries of the world with a territory of more than 3 million km² are distinguished. Tops this list with a wide margin from the rest of Russia (17, 075 million km²). The following are Canada, China and the USA.
By population, a group of ten states with a population of more than 100 million people is distinguished. Of these, the two largest countries in the world (China and India) have a population of more than 1 billion people. Russia is in seventh place with a population of 145 million.
The grouping of countries by geographical feature can also be diverse, for example, by the continent on which it is located or by access to the sea: coastal, island and landlocked.
GDP
To answer the question which country is the richest, they usually use the indicator of gross domestic product. Over the past decade, the United States has the largest GDP ($ 19, 284.99 billion), of course, the richest country in the world.
This is followed by China and, with a significant lag in terms of GDP from the first two countries, Japan and Germany. Russia ranks 13th with a GDP of $ 1267.55 billion.
Groupings of countries are also formed by PPP GDP (GDP by purchasing power parity, i.e., recalculated taking into account prices in the country's economy). According to this indicator, China comes first, followed by the United States, India, and Japan. Russia is in sixth place. By the way, some economists consider PPP GDP to be a fairer indicator for determining the level of the economy. Therefore, the question of what is the richest country in the world can be answered that this is China.
Rich and poor
The grouping of countries according to the level of annual income is determined on the basis of the indicator of GDP per capita. All states are divided into low-income countries if the named GDP is less than $ 750. For example, these include Haiti and Tajikistan.
The group of states with lower than average income (from $ 756 to $ 2, 995) includes countries from Rwanda ($ 761.56) to Swaziland ($ 2613.91). From the post-Soviet space, Ukraine is in this group ($ 2205.67).
Above average income countries should have a figure from $ 2, 996 to $ 9, 265. In the upper part of the income level of this group are Mexico, China and Russia.
Finally, the most developed countries are those with incomes above $ 9266. There are 69 of them. And the first three places are taken by Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway. Economic classification by income level, usually used by international financial institutions in the provision of economic assistance.
Type of economy
The vast majority of countries now belong to capitalist states with market economies. This group includes both the most industrially developed rich states and the poorest. Several Asian countries (China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos) and Cuba are still considered to be centrally managed economies. Despite the fact that market relations are being used more and more here, command and administrative methods of managing the economy continue to be preserved in them.
Level of economic development
According to the level of economic development in most of industry, groupings of countries are divided into pre-industrial or agricultural, industrial and post-industrial.
Several dozen of the poorest countries live off of agricultural production, and some of them even exist mainly through donor assistance. Most of the population (up to 80-90%) in them are employed in the agricultural sector, where the traditional economic system and pre-capitalist relations are maintained. Such countries include countries in Africa (for example, Somalia, Chad) and Asia (for example, Cambodia, Yemen).
A fairly large group of countries is industrial. These are the most powerful economies among developing countries. There is a developed mining and processing industry based on a free market economy.
Sometimes there are industrial and agricultural countries (for example, India, Thailand), in which developed industry, but also a strong agricultural sector.
Developed countries entered the era of post-industrial society, characterized by a predominant sector of services. This grouping of countries is characterized by an innovative economy with a high share of GDP in the high-tech sector, especially in the digital one. The main engine of progress is the knowledge industry.
