These critical policies make ‘developing’ countries advanced

There are policies in what we condescendingly call ‘developing countries’ that actually make them more advanced than the UK in crucial ways.

Developing countries and home ownership

Things like homes and utilities are the basics of life, yet countries we refer to as ‘developing’ often have better models than nations we call ‘advanced’.

Many lower-income countries have high rates of home ownership. Kazakhstan tops the table with 98% of the population owning their own home. In Laos, it’s 96%, and in India, it’s 87%. Many countries in Eastern Europe also have home ownership rates of above 90%.

And then there’s the UK, where 65% of people own their own home. Actually owning the place one lives in makes sense because one isn’t renting and has a place to call their own. It’s a better option than private or state landlordism.

Water ownership

Water is another essential and in developing countries, 90% have water in public ownership.

While state ownership doesn’t solve everything on its own, it’s more efficient to remove profit from essentials or natural monopolies. Non-effective management or a lack of investment can happen in the public or private sector.

Then there’s the UK, where water and sewage is privatised and investment goes to dividends rather than fixing issues.

As stated, ‘developing countries’ with public ownership can also suffer from a lack of investment but the basic policy of non-privatisation is more advanced for utilities.

Electricity ownership

Further, in surveyed developing countries, 71% had electricity in majority public ownership.

What about the UK? Well, even the national grid is privatised. The grid infrastructure made £5 billion in profit in 2025.

The UK previously had publicly owned utilities and a higher home ownership rate. So we’ve actually ‘advanced’ in the wrong direction, while ‘developing’ countries are ahead in some quite critical ways.

Featured image via Pixabay/ sarangib