All countries in the world, regardless of their economic developments face educational, social and political challenges. The two terms first world and third world countries were crowned to identify and classify nations by social, economic and political challenges they face. There exist enormous disparities between developing and developed states (Caliyurt 23). The third world countries involve those poor agrarian states which have high levels of fundamental challenges such as absolute poverty, unemployment, slow economic growth, among others, unlike with the first world countries that have developed many approaches to solving these difficulties. Enrolment in primary education in the developing countries is low compared to the advanced one. Low life expectancy, poor health care facilitation, and low GDP are challenges to the developing states. The main characteristics used in the classification of nations is the Human Development Index (Ekblaw 216). According to statistics, the developing countries include Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, and the United States among other European nations. The third world countries include African countries, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America.
The United States vs. Sudan
The United States is a federal republic consisting of 50 states. Forty-eight of the 50 states occupy the land between Canada and Mexico. Hawaii is located in the mid-Pacific and Alaska is separated from the other states by Canada. The United States occupies an area of 2959064 square miles, appropriately 7, 663 941 square kilometers (Ekblaw 217). The climate of America varies due to different latitudes. The further you go to the south, the more it becomes warmer and drier to the west. The interior upper western states are semi-arid.
Sudan is located in north-eastern Africa. The north part of Sudan borders the red sea and to the east side borders Ethiopia and Eritrea. Independent South Sudan is the third largest country in Africa (Ekblaw 226). Before its independence in 2011, S. Sudan was the largest in the African continent. The total area of the country is 1886 068 square kilometers. As affirmed by Ekblaw (226), Sudan lies within the tropics, and therefore, the climate ranges from hyper-arid in the north and tropical dry-wet to the southwest.
Below is a qualitative table that summarizes more information about the United States and Sudan in a comparative way.
Dimension
United States
Sudan
Country population estimate
318, 872, 103
35, 482, 233
Life expectancy
80.1 years
63.0 years
Capital
Washington, DC
Khartoum
Human Development Index
0.95
0.531
GDP
$52, 800 US
$2, 600 US
Literacy rate
99%
61.0%
Corruption rate
7.3%
1.6%
Women participation in development
16.6%
14.4%
Unemployment rates
7.300%
20.1%
Main ethnic group
White
Black
Religion
Christian
Muslims
Government
Federal president
Federal president
Colonial rule
Great Britain
Britain
Independence
1776
1956
Comparative Analysis
There are various reasons for the high disparity between the developed and the developing countries. In solving the challenges hindering economic growth and development of the third world countries, it is essential to identify the causes of underdevelopment. Most third world countries face poor or corrupt governments. For the case of Sudan, the country faces political instabilities with fights before two political blocks. For example, before the independence of South Sudan, the state had experienced a prolonged period of political unrest hindering country development. Political instability affects education and other social systems; thus, the Human Development Index goes down (Caliyurt 17). Corruption is another issue as it hinders the development of a country as citizen services and development activities from the government are not effectively offered to the citizens.
The other cause of underdevelopment is colonialism and neo-colonialism. The third countries rely more on the developed countries who exploit their resources. Sudan faces military, religious and economic domination of the world supper nations like the United States. The superpowers claim to assist the third world countries, but it is the exact opposite. Most of them support regimes which fight the government in power (Woods 450). Countries like Sudan are rich in minerals, but the superpowers exploit these resources and transport them to their own countries.
The other problem facing Sudan is lack of investment opportunities in national and international markets. Sudan is a resourceful country, but relies on local production with no exports. The main export of the country is gold, which contributes 70% of the total exports. Most of the country’s export resources are mined and exported by superpowers with little or no benefit to the state.
The possibility of promoting human development in Sudan lies in the creation of investment opportunities in national and international markets. The country needs to improve the education and healthcare sectors. Most of the country budget should be spent on creating entrepreneurship opportunities for the citizens. Education and people empowerment will help in gaining control over colonialism and international trade.
Contrary to the developing countries, the developed countries are associated with high industrialization, high levels of economic income, and low employment rates, among other factors. The reasons for the development of the in first world countries is due to investment in industrialization. Industrialization increase production of goods and services, and hence, generating more revenue for the nations (Caliyurt 29). Through manufacturing, the countries produce enough products and services for consumption and export.
The other reasons for development are political stability. The United States achieved independence in 1776. Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956, many years after America became independent. It takes much time for a country to stabilize. Most of the developed countries have stable governments promoting freedom and democracy among their citizens.
The developed countries rely on the service sector. The United States promotes creativity, immolation, and investment from the local citizens. Empowering the local citizens helps to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Most developing countries have high-income disparities. The wealthy people who are one per cent controls the economy of the nations as the rest of the population is left to strangle with illiteracy, poor health, high mortality rates, among other challenges (Woods 452). The United States empower the lower class to participate in development activities. The only threats to development in the US are corruption, interracial crimes, and terror attacks, which target most of the developed nations.
Conclusion
The main difference between the developed and the developing countries is that the developed nations are self-contained and flourished. The countries benefited from the post-colonial economies with most of their incomes coming from the service sectors. The developing countries struggle with neo-colonialism, hunger, political instability among other social challenges.
Works Cited
Caliyurt, Kiymet T. "Accounting Ethics Education: Is There a Difference Between Developed and Developing Countries?" Globalization and Social Responsibility, 2014, pp. 1-32.
Ekblaw, W. E. "The Northern Countries in World Economy." Economic Geography, vol. 14, no. 2, 2017, pp. 215-230.
Woods, Robert. "Book Review: Reproductive Change in Developing Countries: Insights from the World Fertility SurveyClelandJ. Moreover, HobcraftJ. Editors, 1985: Reproductive change in developing countries: Insights from the World Fertility Survey. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xvi + 301 pp. £15.00." Progress in Human Geography, vol. 11, no. 3, 2013, pp. 450-451.
