Third World and poverty?
When people hear or use the word ‘third world’ there is a common misconception that it refers to the economic development of the country. So third world countries are those with low economic development while first world countries are those with high economic development. However this is completely wrong and actually refers to an outdated means of seperating the political alliances of the various countries during the Cold War.
First World: The First world actually refers to capitalist or industrialised countries that were aligned or under the American sphere of influence after WWII. These included Australia, the UK, France and so on.
Second World: Second world was a reference to communist and socialist countries that were aligned with the USSR. These included Russia, China and many Eastern European countries like Poland.
Third World: The third world countries were countries that were not aligned to either the US or the USSR. They were made up of a mix of the industrialised, the rich, the poor, the socialist and the capitalists. These included countries like Venezuela, Saudia Arabia, Greenland and so on.
Later on another term was coined called the ‘fourth world’ which was designed to recognise that there may be nations that span across national boundaries such as indingenous people.
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