An Introduction to Appropriate Technology

Abstract

The population of the world is distributed over very varied regions differing markedly in climate and environment. There are also large ethnic, social and cultural differences between the various communities and their economic conditions. Roughly one-quarter of the world’s population is generally regarded as developed and the remaining three-quarters is described variously as developing, undeveloped, Third World, emerging, or low income. Whatever word we use to describe these countries, the basic fact about them is that they are regions in which most of the people have a low, and sometimes a very low, standard of life.