The poorer countries of the world. The term’s definition is imprecise, but it usually refers to those countries that have not achieved the level of industrialization necessary for self-sustained economic growth. It thus includes most of Africa and much of Asia and Latin America. The growing differences between developing countries, in which some, such as the prosperous newly industrializing countries (NICs), have become richer and others, such as Somalia (sometimes called the ‘least developed countries’), have stagnant or even falling incomes, make it an inadequate term.