# Are there any 2nd World Countries?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-2nd-world-countries/215204>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 25, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-2nd-world-countries/215204 "2003-11-25T17:06:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maskedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@maskedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maskedman)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-2nd-world-countries/215204/1 "2003-11-25T17:06:32Z")

</div>

You hear a lot about Third World Countries and their travails, deficiences, etc.

Are there any 2nd World Countries?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fang)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-2nd-world-countries/215204/2 "2003-11-25T17:14:06Z")

</div>

Third World doesn’t exactly mean what it used to anymore. During the Cold War, First World was the US and its allies, Second World was the Communist Bloc, and Third World was the Non-Aligned Movement. Since the non-aligned countries tended to be underdeveloped, Third World ended up being a descriptor for underdeveloped countries when the Cold War ended. Is there a Second World? Well, there are communist countries, but really no bloc anymore, and especially no USSR or satellite states, so I’d have to say no.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fezpp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fezpp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fezpp)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-2nd-world-countries/215204/3 "2003-11-25T17:15:21Z")

</div>

[Cecil Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_271.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 25, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-2nd-world-countries/215204/4 "2003-11-25T22:06:44Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fang \*  
> \*\*Second World was the Communist Bloc, \*\*

More precisely, the developed Communist countries: USSR, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany. Since none of them are still Communist (and since the Warsaw Pact of Soviet allies is defunct), the Second World can no longer be considered to exist in any sense.

The remaining countries with Communist governments, such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and a few of the former Soviet republics, are all developing countries and hence Third World in that sense. Also, except for Cuba, they were not Soviet allies.