In investing, developed markets are those countries that are thought to be the most developed and therefore less risky.

FTSE Group's list

FTSE Group

FTSE Group

FTSE Group is a world-leader in the provision of global index and analytical solutions. FTSE calculates indices across a wide range of asset classes, on both a standard and custom basis...

, a provider of economic and financial data, assigns the market status of countries as Developed, Advanced Emerging, Secondary Emerging or Frontier on the basis of their economic size, wealth, quality of markets, depth of markets, breadth of markets.
According to the FTSE Group the following 26 countries are classified as developed markets:

FTSE Criteria

Developed countries all have met criteria under the following categories

1. They are high income economies (as measured by the World Bank GNI Per capita Rating, 2008)
2. Market and Regulatory Environment EMG EMG
   1. Formal stock market regulatory authorities actively monitor market (e.g., SEC, FSA, SFC)
   2. Fair and non-prejudicial treatment of minority shareholders
   3. Non or selective incidence of foreign ownership restrictions
   4. No objections or significant restrictions or penalties applied on the repatriation of capital
   5. Free and well-developed equity market
   6. Free and well-developed foreign exchange market
   7. Non or simple registration process for foreign investors
3. Custody and Settlement
   1. Settlement - Rare incidence of failed trades
   2. Custody-Sufficient competition to ensure high quality custodian services
   3. Clearing & settlement - T +3 or shorter, T+7 or shorter for Frontier
   4. Stock Lending is permitted
   5. Settlement - Free delivery available
   6. Custody - Omnibus account facilities available to international investors
4. Dealing Landscape
   1. Brokerage - Sufficient competition to ensure high quality broker services
   2. Liquidity - Sufficient broad market liquidity to support sizeable global investment
   3. Transaction costs - implicit and explicit costs to be reasonable and competitive
   4. Short sales permitted
   5. Off-exchange transactions permitted
   6. Efficient trading mechanism
   7. Transparency - market depth
      Market depth
      In finance, market depth is the size of an order needed to move the market a given amount. If the market is deep, a large order is needed to change the price. Market depth closely relates to the notion of liquidity, the ease to find a trading partner for a given order: a deep market is also a...
      
       information / visibility and timely trade reporting process
5. Derivatives
   1. Developed derivatives markets
6. Size of Market
   1. Market Capitalisation
   2. Total Number of Listed Companies (as at 31st Dec 2008)

MSCI list

As of May 2010, MSCI Barra classified the following 27 countries as developed markets:

S&P list

As of 31 December 2010, Standard and Poor's classified the following 26 countries as developed markets:

Dow-Jones list

As of May 2010, Dow Jones classified the following 30 countries as developed markets:

Russell Global list

As of June 2009, Russell Investments classified the following 26 countries as developed markets:

See also

• Developed country
  Developed country
  A developed country is a country that has a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue...
  
  
• Emerging markets
  Emerging markets
  Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...
  
  
• First World
  First World
  The concept of the First World first originated during the Cold War, where it was used to describe countries that were aligned with the United States. These countries were democratic and capitalistic. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the term "First World" took on a...
  
  
• Frontier markets
  Frontier markets
  Frontier Markets is an economic term which was coined by International Finance Corporation’s Farida Khambata in 1992. It is commonly used to describe a subset of emerging markets ....
  
  
• North-South divide
  North-South divide
  The north–south divide is a socio-economic and political division that exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as "the north", and the poorer developing countries , or "the south." Although most nations comprising the "North" are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere ,...