Policies of the State

The government is in charge of controlling a number of policies. Defense, education, research and development, and health and social welfare, are all factors that lie under the government's control and most of the time indicate whether a country is an MDC, a more developed country, or an LDC a less developed country. Subcategories of each of these policies serve as indicators of a country's level of development. The percent of population in active military and percent of GDP spent on defense, for example, demonstrate how a government handles defense preparations. The educational effort for a country is represented through the GDP spent on education, among other factors. Factors such as the percent of manufactured high technology exports indicate a states' involvement in research and development. Social welfare activity is shown by the percent of governmental expenditures devoted o social security and welfare. Lastly, health expenditures and outcomes for countries are reflected in factors such as spending on health care, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, and per capita income.

More developed countries like Great Britain, United States, and Canada are democratic, they tend to have a voluntary military service and a relatively smaller percentage of the population participating in the military. The Canadian government spends 1.1% of its GDP on defense. In the United States 3% of their GDP is spent on defense, and 2.6% of Great Britain's GDP is spent on defense. North Korea, on the other hand, is a nondemocratic LDC, a less developed country, with an obligatory military service of 3-10 years, and an extremely high percentage of the population involved in the military, 5. North Koreas's government, in addition, spends14.3% of the country's GDP on defense.

There is not a clear pattern between which types of countries spend what on education. In most democratic countries the difference between the percent of eligible girls/boys enrolled in primary school, and high school, is much lower than in countries that are not democratic. In most democratic countries it varies by about one or two percent but in the countries that are not democratic its usually by more than 2.

The percent of manufactured high technology exports, the number of scientists and engineers per million population, and the government spending on research and development tend to be higher in MDCs. The net gain over expenditure in license fees fluctuates among different countries, there is not a clearly defined pattern.

Democratic MDCs' percent of governmental expenditures devoted to social security and welfare tends to be higher than LDCs', while percent of governmental expenditures devoted to housing and community amenities does not follow a definite pattern.

Government spending on health care as a percent of GDP is higher in MDCs than in LDCs. Private spending on health care does not follow a pattern. Like government spending on health care, total spending on health care tends to be higher in MDCs than in LDCs. Life expectancy is higher in MDCs. Infant mortality is higher in LDCs. MDCs are democratic and their per capita income is significantly higher than LDCs'.

Defense preparations, educational effort, involvement in research and development, social welfare activity, and health expenditures and outcomes are all factors that vary among different countries, but there tends to be a pattern for MDCs and LDCs. Its not visible in all cases, but it is definitely present in most. LDCs tend to spend more on defense than MDCs. The amount of eligible girls/boys enrolled in school is close to being equal in MDCs while in LDCs the difference reaches up to 10% in some countries. MDCs export a higher amount of manufactured high technology products, and they also tend to spend more in social security and welfare than LDCs. Per capita income, as well, is higher in MDCs, than in LDCs.



High technology product