Third World

For other uses, see Third World (disambiguation).

The three worlds as they were separated during the Cold War era, each with its respective allies as of the period between 30 April 1975 (the fall of Saigon) and 23 August 1975 (the communist takeover in Laos). Colors do not represent current economic development.

  First World: United States, United Kingdom and their allies.

  Second World: Soviet Union, China, and their allies.

  Third World: neutral and non-alignedcountries.

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO (with the United States,Western European nations and their allies representing the First World), or the Communist Bloc (with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Cuba, and their allies representing the Second World)^{[citation needed]}. This terminology provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on social, political, and economic divisions. The Third World was normally seen to include many countries with colonial pasts in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It was also sometimes taken as synonymous with countries in the Non-Aligned Movement. In the so-called dependency theory of thinkers like Raul Prebisch, Walter Rodney, Theotonio dos Santos, and Andre Gunder Frank, the Third World has also been connected to the world economic division as "periphery" countries in the world system that is dominated by the "core" countries.^[1]

Due to the complex history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed upon definition of the Third World.^[1] Some countries in the Communist Bloc, such as Cuba, were often regarded as "Third World". Because many Third World countries were extremely poor, and non-industrialized, it became a stereotype to refer to poor countries as "third world countries", yet the "Third World" term is also often taken to include newly industrialized countries like India, Brazil or China. Historically, some European countries were part of the non-aligned movement and a few were and are very prosperous, including Switzerland and Austria.

Over the last few decades, the term Third World has been used interchangeably with the Global South and Developing Countries to describe poorer countries that have struggled to attain steady economic development, a term that often includes former "Second World" countries likeRussia. This usage, however, has become less preferred in recent years.^[1]