Third World

[Coldicote]

For decades there have been references to the 'third world' and 'developing countries' but how are those terms defined? At what stage does a country become 'developed' ? They probably have very different ideas about what they would wish for themselves?

[coccinelle]

This is the kind of question where to give an answer is; where do I start? and when do I finish?
In a nutshell a developed country is a democratical one where the population is educated to a certain age to be able to vote in their government. That is what I was taught but don't know if it's right...

[Pigletion]

Usually a body like the United Nations (or the World Bank for economies) will have a set of criteria.

Usually about type of government, GDP per capita, amount of infants surviving above age five, literacy levels etc. etc.

First World is what is considered developed, Second World is former Communist, Third World is developing (sometimes Fourth World is used for indigenous peoples).

Apparently this man coined the term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Sauvy

[Coldicote]

Thank you for your replies. Personally I don't like the desciption 'third world' and hadn't even heard of first, second and fourth worlds. These expressions, and 'developing' countries, seem to me demeaning to the less fortunate - a bit like class distinction. As a matter of courtesy, countries and/or nations should be referred to by their proper names and not categorised.

[jno]

they don't use 'third world' much any more, partly because of the reason you give: nobody quite knows what it means. 'Developing country' is used more commonly because you can usually define it clearly in terms of economic growth rates.

[Pigletion]

I agree Coldicote. I'm not a big fan of labels in general.

I recently did research on emerging markets in finance and I think that's a far nice term. There are also defined criteria on what level of emerging market a country has (with the market for each product given it's own level) and also where it needs to go to become 'emerged'.

I think the Second World, Third World terms were coined ages ago, probably after one of the World Wars when things usually get reassessed. I'm pretty sure Third World is seen as politically incorrect now and developing country is the accepted terminology.


The Second World terminology (and what it refers to) is mainly only useful for pub quizzes!

[heathfield]

''Developing'' to describe a country was chosen fairly recently (in historical terms). It was considered to be less demeaning that the former description of ''under-developed''.

[Coldicote]

A useful discussion thank you everyone - I feel better informed. Coccinelle's reply indicated that basic education and democratic elections are an indication of a 'developed' country. That's probably right, but I still feel that countries should not be categorised. Oh, what good luck it is to live in a 'developed' country!!

[Rach2008]

I think that 3rd world et al are now defunct - the term now seems to be LEDC as per my son's Year 7 studies

[Coldicote]

Thanks Rach, You and your son have just about summed it up. I take it that LEDC means Less Economically Developed Country. There's no stigma to that like there was to some of the earlier expressions. LEDC countries could well be happier with their lot than some whose whole purpose in life seems to revolve around finance, banking, recessions, depressions and so on. Good luck to them.

[shanilisa]

just a comment - I live in a so-called "developing" or third world country. We are just as hard hit by the recession as elsewhere in the world and also have other issues to deal with such as very poor to non-existent service delivery, roads that are falling apart, electricity supplies that are dodgy at best, no welfare support of any substance whatsoever...so yes, you are quite correct, Coldicote, to be thankful that you live in a "developed" country. I am looking at relocating to a developed country as I am tired of the lack of infrastructure here.