> What are "developing" countries developing into? Nice white western ones like the global north? Nope. That one is the worst of the choices.

The way to think about it is along economic, social, and infra/tech dimensions, and are not coupled to culture or ethnicity (your "white western").

Specifically, developing countries:

- Economic: low income, underdeveloped industry

- Social: lower quality of life, limited access to basic services (jobs, food, clean water, education, healthcare, housing)

- Infra/tech: poor infrastructure, limited access to technology

Furthermore, the following countries in Europe ("white") can be considered developing: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, etc. while Japan is not developing (and not "white western").

Some countries have a high HDI (e.g. in Africa you can think of Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Botswana, etc.) but can still be considered developing on other dimensions.

In the Middle East, counties like Qatar, UAE, Israel, Kuwait, and Bahrain can be considered developed (and not "white western").