Asia is referred as the 3rd world (countries) by Europe and USA, why?

Question

First of all there is only one world, this globle that we live in. Next, I am interested to know what is the 2nd world ! Finally, if by using the term 3rd world, they want to disregard all asian countries as inferior, why does more than 70% of their imports are from asia ?

Why inspite of being part of this 3rd world, GDP of India and China is higher than most european countries and inflation rate lower than most of Europe...

Answer 1

I don't think the word Third World was envisaged as an insult. In the early days of colonialism it became common to speak of America as the "New World" and, as a corollary, Europe as the "Old World". As time went by people added a "Third World" meaning, simply, the rest. I even suspect that the initial usage of these words was to refer to the living places of Caucasians, which would explain why Asia and Africa (which were, after all, known to Europeans before America) were never referred to as the "New World": they were colonised late. Fellow Brits/French/Germans/Italians didn't live there, so...

Answer 2

post-WW2, the world had 2 powers: the US and the USSR
countries across the world started joining one of these blocks, diving the world into two worlds: the US-led First World, and the Soviet Second World (the "Second" and "First" bits were made after the Cold War, when the US became the winner)
Leaders of 3 countries: India, Indonesia, Egypt and Yugoslavia came together and formed a third group that would not support any of these blocs: the Non-Aligned Movement. countries of the Non-Aligned Movement are called "Third World" countries
the US considers them to be enemies, and does not provide aid to them. Excluding India (China is considered 1st World), most of these countries are poor and have major social and economic problems.
almost all asian and african countries belong t thsi "3rd world". some 2nd world countries (whose position is not better than 3rd world) are Latvia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, North Korea, Vietnam etc
it is a very insulting term. in today's world, the emergence of India and China as superpowers just goes to show that rich and powerful nations can also be wrong....

Answer 3

I don't think anyone refers to ALL of Asia as 3rd world. Japan is most definately considered 1st world and probably China too.

It has to do with the level of industrialization in a country.

Answer 4

Not all Asian countries are considered 3rd world, and quite a lot of African countries are too.

It's not use the EU and USA either, the term is used in Australia too and it refers to 'developing' countries - those without complex transport infrastructure and the like.

Answer 5

Oh that was done back in the early 40' when we fought WWII

1st World used Sitting Toilets with toilet paper
2nd World used Sitting Toilets with Butt Sprayers and Cloths
3rd World used Squat Toilets and Stick-spoons.

That's so the GI's would know what to keep stocked for rationing....

But times change, and not the old monikers

Answer 6

This is a "cold war" train of thought.

1st world: The West
2nd world: The East/ Warsaw Pact
3rd world: Very poor countries like Bangladash, Burma, Most of Africa and Latin America.

Answer 7

i think it means the qualit of living in third world countries is below than those of 1st world and 2nd world countries. it also means the larger percentage of the population in those countries is below poverty line, economy is highly dependent on other more developed countries , high population growth and the basic source of income of such countries are from agricultural resources.

i don't think the whole of asia is considered third-world. Japan, Taiwan and Singapore are considered 1st world countries.

also visit this website for better understanding: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/General/ThirdWorld_def.html

Answer 8

In fact, the vast majority of Asia is considered the second world, and parts are first world. For a full definition and answers to all your questions, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_world

Answer 9

"GDP of India and China is higher than most european countries"
u should look at the GDP/capita, u can't compare Chinese GDP (1300 million people) with Swiss GDP (7 million)

Answer 10

Very few Americans think that there are such things as third world continents. I have actually never met anyone who does.