30 Biggest Developing Countries in the World

In this article, we will be taking a look at the 30 biggest developing countries in the world. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to see the 5 biggest developing countries in the world.

Developing countries have presented a fantastic opportunity for investment and capital inflows for other nations, known as foreign direct investment (FDI), for decades. The primary reason behind this is the fact that developing countries often exhibit major growth, and most of the fastest growing countries in the world are developing countries, even if they aren't among the biggest developing countries in the world, which also present a range of created assets. At the same time, the promise of higher returns is partially offset by higher risks, which are continuing to increase in the current economic scenario. Take the case of Sri Lanka for example. In 2022, Sri Lanka had to default on its sovereign debt after suffering an economic crisis which is still ongoing. Other countries such as Pakistan could also follow suit, as the World Bank warned that the country's economy was "on the edge of precipice". The stagnation of global economic growth has hit developing countries particularly hard, which have also been more impacted by inflation and higher interest rates. Additionally, the vast majority of debts of developing countries have their debts denominated in a foreign currency, and the strengthening of the U.S. dollar has resulted in their debt burdens increasing significantly. All of this has been further exacerbated by higher interest rates which has resulted in an increased debt burden. According to Lazard Asset Management, 10% of the total asset class of $87 billion left these markets amid a significant hike in interest rates.

30 biggest developing countries in the world
30 biggest developing countries in the world

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While developed economies have also seen their growth stagnate, the impact on developing countries, including the biggest developing countries, has been felt heavily in 2023. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the annual investment deficit has continued to widen in developing economies, even as they attempt to face and achieve their Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 at the latest. When the SDGs were established in 2015, the annual investment deficit was $2.5 trillion in 2015, but now, in 2023, this gap has increased to a staggering $4 trillion. In 2022, FDIs in developing countries decreased by 12%. This is concerning particularly in the light of SDGs as $1.7 trillion is needed by developing countries per year just for clean energy FDIs, but instead, have only received $544 billion in this respect in 2022.