# Agree or Disagree: America is a Third-World Country **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333 "2016-11-28T23:12:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/1 "2016-11-28T23:12:17Z")
[http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third\_world\_countries.htm](http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third_world_countries.htm) > [@](#): > > “Third World” are all the other countries, today often used to roughly describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. > The term Third World includes as well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea) countries, as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries. > [@](#): > > **What makes a nation third world?** > Despite everevolving definitions, the concept of the third world serves to identify countries that suffer from high infant mortality, low economic development, high levels of poverty, low utilization of natural resources, and heavy dependence on industrialized nations. These are the developing and technologically less advanced nations of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America. Third world nations tend to have economies dependent on the developed countries and are generally characterized as poor with unstable governments and having high rates of population growth, illiteracy, and disease. A key factor is the lack of a middle class — with impoverished millions in a vast lower economic class and a very small elite upper class controlling the country’s wealth and resources. Most third world nations also have a very large foreign debt. - Low economic development [check] - High levels of poverty [check] - Low utilization of natural resources [check] - impoverished millions in a vast lower economic class and a very small elite upper class controlling the country’s wealth and resources [check] - very large foreign debt [check] In my opinion, as an American, the United States should not be classified as a first-world country. We need to do so much better. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/2 "2016-11-28T23:22:39Z")
Not just no, but hell no. Read the rest of the linked article. The U.S. is by definition a First World country, and does not share the characteristics you “checked” in any degree comparable to Third World countries. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/3 "2016-11-28T23:24:09Z")
FYI: I did not mean to check “low utilization of natural resources”. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/4 "2016-11-28T23:34:03Z")
Not sure if the thread is serious, but by any reasonable measure the United States is a highly advanced, high-standard-of-living, strong-economy country. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/5 "2016-11-29T00:30:53Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > - High levels of poverty [check] The poverty rates you are thinking of is a relative poverty rate based on per capita GDP. Comparing relative poverty rates nation to nation is basically just a proxy for comparing inequality. It’s not a good tool to compare poverty between nations with different poverty lines… Worldbank, concerned about a measure that was actually meaningful created an international poverty line based on the relative poverty line in the poorest nations. As of 2015 they asses that poverty line as $1.90 per day per person (in 2011 PPP). That line is what the Worldbank and UN tend to use in discussing poverty and poverty fighting initiatives. Yes that’s less than $700 a year. We do quite a bit better on that test than the countries you want to lump us in with. Basically any household drawing support under some of our poverty fighting government transfer programs (SNAP, Welfare, WIC, etc.) is already above that line. Someone who makes federal minimum wage for one month out of the year vaults over that poverty line. Very much not a check. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/6 "2016-11-29T00:35:30Z")
Banana Republic is a popular US store. Maybe they know something we don’t? 😃 The US has declined significantly in the past thirty years. Lot of industry and jobs gone. We’ll never see the prosperity enjoyed by the post WWII baby boomers. But we aren’t a 3rd world country yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/7 "2016-11-29T00:38:33Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Worldbank, concerned about a measure that was actually meaningful created an international poverty line based on the relative poverty line in the poorest nations. As of 2015 they asses that poverty line as $1.90 per day per person (in 2011 PPP). That line is what the Worldbank and UN tend to use in discussing poverty and poverty fighting initiatives. Yes that’s less than $700 a year. > > We do quite a bit better on that test than the countries you want to lump us in with. Basically any household drawing support under some of our poverty fighting government transfer programs (SNAP, Welfare, WIC, etc.) is already above that line. Someone who makes federal minimum wage for one month out of the year vaults over that poverty line. > > Very much not a check. I’m not sure it’s that simple. It’s not necessarily even _possible_ to live on $700 a year in America without being homeless. I’d say someone who is homeless is pretty clearly impoverished, even if they are staying with friends or in a shelter (on $700 a year? In America that could barely feed you, let alone provide anything more substantial.) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/8 "2016-11-29T01:06:19Z")
Disagree. I’ve been in about a hundred third world countries, and this is not one of them. Aside from economics, one major cultural difference: people in third world countries are polite and considerate and respect people’s dignity, and treat strangers with generosity and hospitality and above all charity. And expect nothing in return. For another thing, they don’t waste resources. They are mindful of how difficult it is to get things of value, and do not thoughtlessly squander them. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/9 "2016-11-29T04:49:47Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > - Low economic development [check] > - High levels of poverty [check] > - Low utilization of natural resources [check] > - impoverished millions in a vast lower economic class and a very small elite upper class controlling the country’s wealth and resources [check] > - very large foreign debt [check] > > In my opinion, as an American, the United States should not be classified as a first-world country. We need to do so much better. Sorry, this is ridiculous. I’ve been to dozens of Third World countries, and the US isn’t remotely one, by any stretch of the imagination. On a relative basis, the US is far above most Third World countries on any of those measures. I have to ask, have you ever been to an actual Third World country?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/10 "2016-11-29T06:03:29Z")
People who natter on about America being a Third World country almost never have actually been to a Third World country themselves. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/11 "2016-11-29T06:34:04Z")
No. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Unless the Russians have nuked the US since I have been there. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/12 "2016-11-29T06:48:25Z")
The US is a first world country (“the” first world country, by several definitions), but one with a significant fourth world population. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/13 "2016-11-29T08:42:25Z")
No, it is quite clearly a first world country albeit with a curiously backward view on crime, guns and healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/14 "2016-11-29T10:37:18Z")
Echoing the “OP must have never left the US except for the family vacation to Paris” line of thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/15 "2016-11-29T11:52:48Z")
One might occasionally speak of the US becoming a third-world country, but such an expression is first of all almost always hyperbole, and second of all doesn’t say how long it’ll take for the process of becoming one will take. As of right now, and for the foreseeable future, America is first-world. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/16 "2016-11-29T11:56:43Z")
It’s a rhetorical question that somehow is also a poll… No, the US isn’t a third-world country. Not that I think the term “third-world” is very useful any more. I think Developed, Developing and Stagnant / Failed States captures the trichotomy better than the old distinction over political philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/17 "2016-11-29T12:07:37Z")
My wife is from the Dominican Republic, and often notes wryly that people here who complain about poverty are unaware of what actual poverty looks like. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/18 "2016-11-29T13:01:50Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > My wife is from the Dominican Republic, and often notes wryly that people here who complain about poverty are unaware of what actual poverty looks like. Poverty is a reletive term. What constitutes poverty varies in different regions within countries. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/19 "2016-11-29T14:04:29Z")
If America is a Third World country, there is no First or Second World. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333/20 "2016-11-29T14:17:51Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > It’s a rhetorical question that somehow is also a poll… > > No, the US isn’t a third-world country. Not that I think the term “third-world” is very useful any more. I think Developed, Developing and Stagnant / Failed States captures the trichotomy better than the old distinction over political philosophy. Yeah. We hardly have a Strong Communist Bloc to play the part of Second World. Every country could use improvement. Some more than others. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agree-or-disagree-america-is-a-third-world-country/773333.md?page=2)