Resource Paper on Application of Computers and Computing Techniques to Development, in Developing Countries.

In spite of the lack of specific and properly defined goals and plans about the use of computers for their development, some non-industrialized countries have made substantial advances in this computer usage. In these countries, the number of computers installed ranges from zero to roughly 1 per 200,000 inhabitants. The distribution of these systems among areas of application (business and commercial engineering and scientific, education and training, military and defense), is fairly similar to that observed in advanced countries. The majority of the developing countries have installed computers of varying capacities in some of their higher learning institutions, which is acting as a triggering factor for more and better computer installations. The upper bracket of the industrial, commercial and services enterprises of a substantial part of these countries have installed computer systems. The use of automatic data processing systems has initiated a revolution in management attitudes and techniques. There is, in almost all of the developing countries a strong tendency to increase the use of computers in government operations. (Author)