The World Bank has taken (a welcomed) position and has decided to eliminate the terms under developed, developing, and developed country.  Previously the World Bank labeled countries in the bottom two-thirds of Gross National Income as developing. A senior economist at the World Bank, Umar Serajuddin, explains why categorizing disparate countries together in the same groups is not useful:

“The main issue is that there is just so much heterogeneity between Malawi and Malaysia for both to be classified in the same group—Malaysia is more like the US than Malawi.”

These terms can be reductive and simplify the status of countries. The World Bank is hoping other organizations will follow suit.

Click on the link to read more: http://qz.com/685626/the-world-bank-is-eliminating-the-term-developing-country-from-its-data-vocabulary/