Editing Third World (section)

{{short description|Geopolitical concept}}
{{Other uses|Third World (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Developing country}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=March 2025}}
{{Original research|date=March 2025}}
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{{Three worlds}}
The term '''Third World''' arose during the [[Cold War]] to define countries that remained non-aligned with either [[NATO]] or the [[Warsaw Pact]]. The [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Taiwan]], [[Japan]], [[South Korea]], the [[Southern Cone]], [[NATO|Western European countries]] and other allies represented the "[[First World]]", while the [[Soviet Union]], [[China]], [[Cuba]], [[North Korea]], [[Vietnam]], and their allies represented the "[[Second World]]". This terminology provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on political divisions. Due to the complex history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition of the Third World.<ref name="Tomlinson" /> Strictly speaking, "Third World" was a political, rather than economic, grouping.<ref name=":7">{{cite news |last=Silver |first=Marc |date=4 January 2015 |title=If You Shouldn't Call It The Third World, What Should You Call It? |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/04/372684438/if-you-shouldnt-call-it-the-third-world-what-should-you-call-it |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=[[NPR]] |archive-date=1 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401165708/https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/04/372684438/if-you-shouldnt-call-it-the-third-world-what-should-you-call-it |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Since most Third World countries were economically poor and non-industrialized, it became a [[stereotype]] to refer to [[developing countries]] as "third-world countries". In political discourse, the term Third World was often associated with being underdeveloped. China was labeled "Third World" for several decades in the 20th century before its robust development of the 21st century. Some countries in the [[Eastern Bloc]], such as [[Economy of Cuba|Cuba]], were often regarded as Third World.  The Third World was normally seen to include many countries with [[Colonization|colonial]] pasts in [[Africa]], [[Latin America]], [[Oceania]], and [[Asia]]. It was also sometimes taken as synonymous with countries in the [[Non-Aligned Movement]]. In the [[dependency theory]] of thinkers like [[Raúl Prebisch]], [[Walter Rodney]], [[Theotônio dos Santos]], and others, the Third World has also been connected to the [[World-systems theory|world-systemic]] economic division as [[periphery countries|"periphery" countries]] dominated by the countries comprising the [[core countries|economic "core"]].<ref name="Tomlinson" />

In the Cold War, some European democracies ([[Austria]], [[Finland]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Sweden]], and [[Switzerland]]) were neutral in the sense of not joining NATO, but were prosperous, never joined the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], and seldom self-identified as part of the Third World.

Since the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] and the [[Cold War (1985–1991)|end of the Cold War]], the term ''Third World'' has decreased in use. It is being replaced with terms such as [[Developing country|developing countries]], [[least developed countries]] or the [[Global South]].

[[File:Three Worlds Theory.png|thumb|The three worlds in [[Three Worlds Theory]]
{{Legend|#3465A4|First World: [[Superpower|Superpowers]]}}
{{Legend|#FFC90E|Second World: Developed Countries}}
{{Legend|#CC0000|'''Third World''': Developing Countries}}]]