- Introduction
Development is one of major issues facing the Muslim countries. Most Muslim countries, if not all, are considered to be lagging behind compared to Western countries in Europe and North America, East Asia countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and Australia and New Zealand.
But what are the indicators that built up such a consideration? Todaro (2011:14) observes that one dominant indicator that determines the consideration for the different levels of development is per capita growth (and income). For instance, he states as follows: “development was until recently nearly always seen as an economic phenomenon in which rapid gains in overall and per capita GNI growth would either “trickle down” to the masses in the form of jobs and other economic opportunities or create the necessary conditions for the wider distribution of the economic and social benefits of growth.”
