If industrialized and technologically advanced (and resource hogging) nations like the U.S. and Japan are First World countries, and poor, undeveloped countries whose governments suffern violent overthrows roughly every week are Third World countries, then what’s a Second World country?
Are there exact specifications for a nation’s status in this respect, or are these just vague labels with no real meaning?
Oops, sorry for the double post. Delete one of these threads, please, oh great moderator.
{sing}"Oh, Puff , the Magic poster,
lived by the sea, and froliced in
the land of Honilee"{/sing} 
Sorry, dude; I couldn’t resist! In answer to your question, it isn’t 1st world, 2nd world, 3rd world. No, it’s Old World (Europe) , New World (USA), 3rd world (ex-colonial nations who get offended if you call them that).Japan was never a colonial subject, so it’s anybody’s guess where it goes.
Another version goes: Industrialized Nations, Communist States, 3rd World/Broker-than-Hell.
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