The poorest countries are sometimes called underdeveloped countries.  An
underdeveloped country is a country in which there is little industrialization,
limited mechanization of the agricultural sector, very little capital equipment,
and low per capita income.  In many underdeveloped countries, large numbers of
people live on the edge of starvation.  Such people devote their time to
producing the meager supplies of food and clothing required for themselves and
their families.  They have no surplus to trade with others or to invest in new
tools and capital equipment.  One of the most publicized of the poor countries
is Ethiopia, where thousands of people spend their lives trekking across parched
landscapes in search of meager food supplies.
     Just how poor are the poorest countries?  Those countries whose per capita
incomes range between 4 and 9 percent of those in the United States contain 27
percent of the world's people who earn only 6 percent of world income.  These
poorest of countries are located mainly in Africa.