A developing country in general is a country that has low levels of industrialization and low standards of living. While there is no universally accepted means of determining the dividing line between a developing and developed country, statistical measurements like standard of living, GDP per capita, life expectancy, industrialization, and literacy rate among others all help determine a country’s classification. That being said, not all developing countries are the same. Some have relatively high standards of living, but low life expectancy rates while others are the complete opposite.
Archive for the ‘Needs Link’ Category
A Developing Country is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Family Planning is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Family planning is the ability to choose the number of children in a family and the space of time between births. Women in many countries do not have these options either because of a lack of resources or their rights are restricted. Family planning is an important component to improving women’s health as well as creating more stable and successful families.
Greenhouse Gases are…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Greenhouse gases are thought to be a major culprit in global warming. Gases including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and even water vapor, trap heat from the sun and make the Earth warmer – just like glass in a greenhouse traps heat and makes the air inside warmer. These gases exist naturally in the atmosphere, but human activities have increased their concentrations and subsequent air warming to a level that could potentially have disastrous climactic effects.
Belgium but not Britain? Doesn’t Euro mean Europe?
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009If you traveled through Europe before 2002, you probably had a lot of fun juggling the different currencies and their crazy exchange rates. You could spend 20 francs on a coffee in Paris and then in Italy it would cost 5000 lira – a bit confusing. But today, you’ll pay for that coffee in Italy and in France with the same bill: the euro.
Even though it’s called the euro after (you guessed it) Europe, its name is a little misleading. There are 45 countries in Europe but only 27 of them have joined the European Union. Out of those 27, only 16 use the euro as their official currency. That’s means only about 1/3 of Europe actually uses the euro! Why so few though?
There are several reasons why:
- You have to be a member of the European Union to adopt the euro as your currency. There are 18 countries who don’t belong, including Switzerland (which geographically is the center of Europe).
- You must follow strict financial guidelines to be allowed to have the euro; some countries (like Poland) have yet to meet them.
- Lastly, you have to want it. Some countries like Britain, Denmark, and Sweden don’t want the euro as their official currency. (If Mexico wanted us to jointly adopt the same currency, we probably would say no as well because of the effect Mexico’s weaker economy would have on our own.)
As Europe continues to loosen the national borders that divide it, the Euro will continue to be adopted by more and more countries. Probably soon, you won’t remember what it was like to carry 20 different currencies in your pocket while visiting only one continent.
A Bid is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009A bid is the means by which someone expresses willingness to buy something at a certain price. For example, if you want to buy one share of Microsoft (MSFT) for $25 then your bid is $25. A bid is the opposite of an offer which expresses the willingness to sell.
The IMF is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009The IMF is the International Monetary Fund, an organization established to encourage international trade and financial cooperation, stabilize exchange rates, and combat poverty. Countries that are members of the IMF contribute to the fund in gold and in their own currency, and they can then withdraw from the fund in order to pay off debts to other nations during times of deficit.
A Lender is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009A lender is any person or business that makes loans. A lender gives a borrower money because the lender expects to be paid back not only the initial amount he or she lent – the principal – but also interest.
CD or Savings?
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009In short, it all depends. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and savings accounts are similar ways of storing your money, but they offer different benefits. A quick look at each will help you figure it all out.
Both savings accounts and CDs pay you interest on your money and are insured by the government as long as they live at an FDIC bank (almost every bank is). In essence, they are both virtually risk-free investments – a pretty good deal. The only difference is their given interest rates and how often you can take your money out.
CDs typically pay higher interest rates than savings accounts, but you can’t withdraw your money whenever you want. CDs have set maturation time periods like three months, one year, five years, etc. where you cannot access your money (if you’re desperate then you can access your money by paying a hefty fine). The CDs with the longest maturation periods typically have higher interest rates, while those with shorter maturation periods have lower rates. Because of this, CDs are a great way to store money that you won’t use in the short-term while savings accounts are more for money you’ll want to spend sometime soon. Either way you go, you’re still getting paid to store your money, which is a pretty good thing.
The World Bank is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009The World Bank is an organization whose job it is to help poor countries achieve economic development through loans and advice. It gives out about $30 billion every year to 100 countries.