Ecuador may seem like a developed country, but it is not. Ecuador is leaning to a developing country because of it's economy. Characteristics of a "developed" country is high per capita income levels and a lot of industrialization. Ecuador does not fall under these standards becuase of the discovery of oil in 1967. This caused corruption and poverty in Ecuador resulting the GDP and the capita to be low. The small nation's first oil boom during the 1970s spurred the nation's economy and fattened the state's coffers. Unfortunately it did not stay that way. After a couple of years this discovery caused 65 to 70 percent of the rural areas in Ecuador to be living in poverty.