Many factors influence a country’s development. Natural resources are only a small part of the development of a country, and no country would develop with natural resources alone.
The United States of America has developed largely due to good land, and the mining of minerals and oil. But if this was all that was happening, the country would fail to develop. Multinational companies in the US include Coca-Cola, Microsoft and McDonalds, all of which have spread and raked in huge amounts for the country. The USA also has a large amount of political power, and its democracy ideals have spread. Other industries include film, television, food, clothes, and automobiles, which raises the wealth even higher.
Japan is another example of a country which has been developed with many different sources of wealth. Japan is a mountainous country, 73% in fact, and most of the land is unsuitable for growing crops. They hardly rely on minerals and oil, after the oil ‘shock’ of the 70s, and its dependence on petrol has decreased immensely and is one of the most energy efficient countries in the world. Its industrialized economy is the second largest in the world, and continues to develop new technology which is then exported to different nations. Japan will no doubt keep growing, and natural resources will not be the only factor contributing to that growth.
Vietnam, currently an LEDC, is still growing and could soon become an MEDC. The main industry is rice at this point, but other industries are coming through which include tourism and clothing (mainly footwear). Tourism is the fastest growing industry, because of the country’s long history and wars. This brings overseas tourists to Vietnam, which creates wealth for the country. Unfortunately most Vietnamese people live on less than $300 (US) a day, and a corrupt government takes most of the ‘equally’ shared money for itself. But, providing these things are slowly worked out, Vietnam may become an MEDC sooner than we think,...