1.Given the current rank of the Philippines at 107 th in the New Human Development Index,

what possible measures can be done to further raise the country's current standing? Explain

2.The World Bank has produced and used income classifications to group countries.

The low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income groups are each associated with an

annually updated threshold level of Gross National Income (GNI) per-capita, and the low

and middle income groups taken together are referred to in the World Bank (and elsewhere)

as the "developing world."

The IMF, in the "World Economic Outlook (WEO)" currently classify 37 countries as

"Advanced Economies" and all others are considered "Emerging Market and Developing

Economies" according to the WEO Statistical Annex. The institution notes that "this

classification is not based on strict criteria, economic or otherwise" and that it's done in

order to "facilitate analysis by providing a reasonably meaningful method of organizing

data."

The UNDP's Human Development Index is a well-established multi-dimensional measure of

wellbeing and groups countries into: "Very high", "High", "Medium" and "Low" levels of

human development. The index draws on various indicators including those related to

income, education and health.

The United Nations has no formal definition of developing countries, but still uses the term

for monitoring purposes and classifies as many as 159 countries as developing. Under the

UN's current classification, all of Europe and Northern America along with Japan, Australia

and New Zealand are classified as developed regions, and all other regions are developing.

The UN maintains a list of "Least Developed Countries" which are defined by accounting for

GNI per capita as well as measures of human capital and economic vulnerability.

Question:

What significant biases and cultural overtones confront developing countries when they are tagged as such? Explain.