Editing First World (section)

{{short description|Geopolitical concept}}
{{About|the Western political concept|the Maoist political concept|Three Worlds Theory}}
{{Three worlds}}

The concept of the '''First World''' was originally one of the "[[Three-world model|Three Worlds]]" formed by the global political landscape of the [[Cold War]], as it grouped together those countries that were aligned with the [[Western Bloc]] of the United States. This grouping was directly opposed to the [[Second World]], which similarly grouped together those countries that were aligned with the [[Eastern Bloc]] of the [[Soviet Union]]. However, after the Cold War ended with the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, the definition largely shifted to instead refer to any country with a well-functioning [[Democracy|democratic system]] with little prospects of [[political risk]], in addition to a strong [[rule of law]], a [[Capitalism|capitalist economy]] with [[economic stability]], and a relatively high mean [[standard of living]]. Various ways in which these metrics are assessed are through the examination of a country's [[Gross domestic product|GDP]], [[Gross national income|GNP]], [[Literacy|literacy rate]], [[life expectancy]], and [[Human Development Index]].<ref>[http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/first-world.asp First World], ''[[Investopedia]]''</ref>{{Better citation|reason=There is no consensus on the reliability of this source.|date=February 2023}} In colloquial usage, "First World" typically refers to "the [[Developed country|highly developed industrialized nations]] often considered the [[Western world#Views on torn countries|Westernized countries]] of the world".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/first%20world|work=Merriam-Webster |title=First world|access-date=27 May 2017}}</ref>