Question

Essay Topic: “What is/are the most significant challenge for developing countries in the 21st Century?”

Write and introduction to an essay (200+ words)

Answer 1

In the 21st century, the scenario of the world is very transparent. In all the major organisations starting from the WTO to the IMF and World Bank, few of the most influential countries seem to have taken the upper hand, and rightly so because they are the ones providing the maximum funding for the smooth running of these global institutions. However, for the true economic prosperity of all the nations, it is important for the poorer nations, a.k.a the developing nations to also come up. There are but many obstacles in the path which have to be dealt with first in these developing nations. The most pressing ones are also precisely the ones that cause massive differences between the developed and the developing nations. This essay attempts to capture some of these problems and discuss them further. The two most important problems, which are two sides of the same coin evidently, are the problems of poverty and inequality. In most of the developing nations, poverty seems to be a major setback against development. The percentage of families below the poverty line in these countries is so much more than that in the developed communities. If a nation has a major chunk of its population below the poverty line, this creates serious impediments to growth. This section, namely the poor, cannot contribute their hundred percent in the productive output of the country and also a massive portion of the countries GDP is devoted to various social security schemes for this section which could have been used for other productive purposes. And this poverty is majorly a manifestation of the income inequality prevalent in these countries. In countries such as these, the richest segment of the population, which mostly is just about ten percent of the population, seem to hold more wealth than the remaining ninety percent. And this inequality is a result of years of suppression and a lot of social and cultural discrimination as well. This has to be changed, so that poverty and inequality can be removed from the roots. Another prevalent issue in these developing countries is their Female Labour Force Participation Rates (FLFPR). The developing countries have seriously low levels of FLFPR. This creates a very pertinent problem because if about half of the population does not contribute to productive activities, then there is no way in which these countries can produce up to the level of the developed nations with a much larger FLFPR. For the developing nations to truly prosper, these issues need to be addressed.