The term underdevelopment refers to that state of an economy where levels of living of masses are extremely low due to very low levels of per capita income resulting from low levels of productivity and high growth rates of population.
there is a set of common characteristics of underdeveloped economies such as low per capita income, low levels of living, high rate of population growth, illiteracy, technical backwardness, capital deficiency, dependence on backward agriculture, high level of unemployment, unfavourable institutions and so on.