To call the likes of China and India ‘developing’ is, frankly, insulting

It is a country where people in local and European designer outfits walk on modern streets in major modern cities, eating in attractive restaurants that serve dishes from around the world.

The US, recognised as a developed economy, came in at sixth place, while others such as Britain, at 21st, and France (23rd) rank below Qatar.

The parabolic curve of economic development describes how, as a country develops and becomes rich, its rate of development inevitably flattens out. High economic growth rates cannot go on forever.

Most countries do not handle this post-development phase of atrophy well. The massive investments in leading edge infrastructure that Britain made in the 1870s, the United States made at the turn of the century and Japan made in the 1960s have naturally aged.

It is tempting to delay repair and replacement when money is short, and even when infrastructure is renewed to modern standards of reliability and comfort, it rarely delivers the advancements of the past

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From economic ‘miracle’ to cautionary tale: Japan’s development and recession

The Japanese Shinkansen bullet train took its first paying passengers in 1964. Revenue flights on the supersonic Concorde took off in 1976 (just 73 years after the Wright Brothers flew the world’s first successful aeroplane) and continued for 27 years – it has not been replaced. Man last landed on the moon more than half a century ago.

Development is plagued by dated infrastructure, excessive bureaucracy, poorly paid jobs that people hate, family breakdowns, financial problems, sluggish public services, high levels of debt and taxes, substance abuse, creaking health provisions, low productivity and a sense of a loss of tenacity, well-being, happiness and trust. The poor are