# Third World Countries ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 4, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828 "2002-10-04T13:14:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828/1 "2002-10-04T13:14:28Z")

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Are there first and second world counties ? If yes, what are they ? If no, Why are third wolrd countires called third world ?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Bloody\_Pollyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@Bloody\_Pollyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_Pollyanna)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828/2 "2002-10-04T13:19:46Z")

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‘Developed’ countries are generally referred to as first world countries. I’m not sure at what point a country is considered developed and/or third world, or why they’re so called, though.

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**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828/3 "2002-10-04T13:50:51Z")

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“Second world” used to refer to Communist bloc countries, so it’s probably an obsolete term now. Then again, I suppose you could argue that formerly Communist countries still share certain characteristics that differentiate them from the other “worlds.”

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828/4 "2002-10-04T14:06:14Z")

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It used to be, during the cold war, there was a school of thought in International Relations that divided the countries of the world into three “worlds”.

The “first world” were advanced industrial democracies…the US and her allies.

The “second world” were the Soviet Union and her satelites, the advanced industrial Communist countries.

The “third world” were those underdeveloped countries not allied either with the US or the Soviet Union. It was in these countries that the actual cold war would be thought.

The term, and the idea, was first developed by Alfred Sauvy, in his essay “Trois Mondes, Une Planete” (Three Worlds, One Planet) in 1952. The idea is obsolete now, with the fall of the Soviet Union, but you sometimes still hear the terms used.

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**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-countries/130828/5 "2002-10-04T15:36:23Z")

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I gather Third World countries prefer to think of themselves as the [Non-Aligned Movement](http://www.nam.gov.za/background/members.htm). Granted, this is more of a diplomatic group, and includes wealthy members like Singapore and UAE. However, I mention it here because the NAM explicitly stands apart from the First World (Western democracies) and Second World (current and former Communist regimes). Except that Cuba is a member, as well as many former Soviet republics. So why did I bring it up?