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Is the UAE a first world country?

80K views 71 replies 30 participants last post by  iLikeLemons 
#1 ·
hey,

i was just wondering- does the UAE count as a first world country yet and if not, how close is it to being one? also, does anyone know what the exact specifications for being a first world country are?

thanks a lot,

~ Damien
 
#2 ·
well im gona be all technical and pediantic.

1st, 2nd and 3rd world refers to cold war allegences.

1st world indicated all the nations alligned with the western bloc

2nd world refered to all nations in the eastern bloc

3rd world refered to all nations who took a stand as being non aligned, including china.

ok, so as you see its a political measure, not an economic one. and also out of date by about 15 years. yet it is still banded around by the media
 
#3 ·
so really it has nothing to do with economic, social and political progress? well, that sucks... is there another way to classify the countries of the world then? 'cos it would be cool to see where the UAE stands, as in, is it a developed country or a developing one?
 
#4 ·
UAE is developing country.. but it is the first information/services economy based in the middle east. ( leading country in info & serv. in ME ) but we do not have good industry base so we are developing country. ( 2nd world country )
 
#9 ·
personally i think there is enough democracy in the UAE.

democracy is not about votes and elections. it is about the will of the people. as an expat, the UAE is following the will of the majority. since UAE citizens are the minority, their will does not seem like it is being followed. as for human rights, everyday things are improving.
 
#12 · (Edited)
luv2bebrown said:
personally i think there is enough democracy in the UAE.

democracy is not about votes and elections. it is about the will of the people. as an expat, the UAE is following the will of the majority. since UAE citizens are the minority, their will does not seem like it is being followed. as for human rights, everyday things are improving.
following the will of the majority? totally wrong :|

It seems that u forgot that the majority of expats are also muslims and they are against those stuff mostly so, I really dont know what r u talking about. Beside since when expats interest, if it goes against the citizens will, important anyway? no offence :?

Why do u think they are going to allow the Emiratis to vote? :sleepy:

Because we seriously need it especially after reading this post :D
 
#13 ·
damien89 said:
hey,

i was just wondering- does the UAE count as a first world country yet and if not, how close is it to being one? also, does anyone know what the exact specifications for being a first world country are?

thanks a lot,

~ Damien
I have studied this and the correct answer is that the U.A.E is a developing coutry, BUT, it has chosen to declare itself as such.

No World body designates countries as either developed, developing or third World. When a country declares itself as developed, it HAS to make regular contributions towards a global fund managed by the UN to safeguard the interests of the third world countries. As a developing country, no contributions need to be made formally and the UN may assist if and when there is a crisis. Third world countries obviously recieve grants and hand outs from this fund and are always in need of assistance of some form.

Just to put things into perspective, Singapore, which is argued by analysts to be a developed country, has declared itself as a developing country simply so that it can avoid making hefty contributions towards that global fund. And also, these "contributions" amount to a specific percentage of country's GDP.

So there. :cheers:
 
#14 ·
In my opinion is the U.A.E already a developed country. When i was in Hong Kong (a developing city in my opinion) i had a small culture shock (i hope this is the English word for Kultushock). In Tokyo i was very fine, same in Dubai. I don`t know how to say this. I just had never the feeling that i am in a developing country.

I would say:
The U.A.E is a fast growing developed country.
 
#16 ·
smussuw said:
hmmm, I didnt get it.

How can u call HK a developing city and the UAE a developed country? :D

can u explain more because I really want to know.
It`s difficult for me to explain it.

Do you know Shenzhen? Shenzhens GDP per people is half as high as the one of Hong Kong. But if you walk in both cities you have the feeling they have very much in common. The behaviour of the people, the streets, the feeling. Okay they are very close and in both cities are the most people Chinese.......
But you don`t have the feeling that Hong Kong is much more developed than Shenzhen.

Dubai and Frankfurt have much more together, than Shenzhen and Dubai.

It´s very very difficult to explain, It`s about how you feel a city(country).
 
#17 ·
To be considered a 1st world country, you would basically need two things:

1) High GDP Per Capita

2) Exporting your Goods/Services


The UAE has 1) down, not 2).


But anyway, these labels, like "Developed" and "Developing" countries and the labels WHO use are really outdated.


The UAE is unique and you shouldnt look at it with these kinds of terms.
 
#19 ·
Third World has become more or less synonomous with Developing...

It's still used by the media because the meaning has transformed...

The UAE is very much developed in certain aspects, but still a bit backward in other ones...Overall i think its still a developing country, but at the forefront..Inshalla with reforms, a few more years, and most of us gulf countries will be 1st World, although we might not declare it, for the reasons Face81 gave :tongue2:
 
#23 ·
when people say "third world countries" many dumb americans always take this as a negative... "Rishi, why do you want to move to a third world country"... im like its not "third world" as you think of it, its developing..

sigh....
 
#24 ·
Dubai_Boy said:
Kuwait , the UAE , bahrain and Qatar are all almost 1st world !
no way! qatar is way too far. and qatar still needs to diversify its economy. its only natural gas right now. and bahrain is a developing country still far from being developed. bahrain doesnt have the oil wealth fo teh UAE but it has better human rights and better diversified economy, but because it doesnt have the money UAE has it doesnt have as much developement, but since its a small island it will get there soon.
 
#25 ·
DUBAI said:
No No NOoooooooooo :bash:


people pay attention to my wisdom!
Meanings for words and terms can change as situations change you know. I was really surprised and intrigued about where these terms come from. But they are now generally used to refer to developed, developing or underdeveloped countries.

However, to makes things easier shall we use geographical terms.

More economically developed countries (MEDCs)

Less economically developed countries (LEDSs)

I would say the U.A.E is certainly an MEDC. It may still be developing, but it has a very strong economy and alot of stability for future growth.
Human rights the U.A.E does fall back a little on. I think this could be attributed to how recently it was a LEDC. LEDCs generally have poorer human rights and other social problems. Generally these things take much longer to change than an economy does as it requires people attitudes to change. The U.A.E is actually seeing an abnormally accelerated development in these areas as well (although not as dramatic as the economic development) mainly due to a huge influx of people from existing and long standing MEDCs.
 
#26 ·
prsn41ife said:
no way! qatar is way too far. and qatar still needs to diversify its economy. its only natural gas right now. and bahrain is a developing country still far from being developed. bahrain doesnt have the oil wealth fo teh UAE but it has better human rights and better diversified economy, but because it doesnt have the money UAE has it doesnt have as much developement, but since its a small island it will get there soon.

Qatar by the end of the year 2006 will surpass Luxembourg as the wealthiest nation. The LNG exports will hit its peak by 2012 and Qatar's economy is expected to triple in a span of 10 years. How you consider it backwards is beyond my comprehension. Qatar will have more cash to spend on projects than almost all Gulf nations barring UAE. That says a lot when you can surpass a nation like Kuwait with 10% of the world's crude. After Dubai, Doha is the nation with the most construction projects for itself these are statistics of today not of tommorow or speculation.
 
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