No, less developed countries can be just as democratic and free as industrialized wealthy countries. It is possible for a country to be a democracy, score very well on the Freedom House surveys, be considered free, enjoy a long life expectancy and a high literacy rate, but still have a relatively low level of industrialization and purchasing power parities (PPP). Examples are Philippines, Belize, and Costa Rica.
"Political rights enable people to participate freely in the political process, which is the system by which the polity chooses authoritative policy makers and attempts to make binding decisions affecting the national, regional, or local community. In a free society, this represents the right of all adults to vote and compete for public office, and for elected representatives to have a decisive vote on public policies." Though India, Benin, and the Philippines are all rated as free and democratic and enjoy a high level of civil rights, they still have low PPP's ($2,248.00, $990.00, and $3,971.00 respectively) and low life expectancies (61 yrs, 53.8 yrs, and 69.3 yrs respectively) comparable to Burma/Myanmar ($1,027 and 56 yrs), Egypt ($3,420.00 and 66 yrs) and Indonesia ($2,857.00 and 67 yrs) which are not free democracies but have been dominated by authoritarian and military regimes. .
It does generally follow that there is a correlation between low life expectancy and low incomes or PPP. In other words, if the country has a low live expectancy it will certainly be poor, for instance, Benin has a life expectancy of 53.8 years and a PPP of $990.00, and India has a life expectancy of 61 years and a PPP of $2,248.00. But the inverse is not true, it does not follow that a country with a high life expectancy will also enjoy a high PPP, Costa Rica has a life expectancy of 76 years but a PPP of only $8,650.00, and Belize has a life expectancy of 74 years but a PPP of only $5,606.
