Japan’s postwar economy developed from the remnants of an industrial infrastructure that suffered widespread destruction during World War II. In 1952, at the close of the Allied Occupation, Japan was a “less-developed country,” with per capita consumption roughly one fifth that of the United States. Over the following two decades, Japan averaged an annual growth rate of 8%, enabling it to become the first country to move from “less- developed” to “developed” status in the postwar era.