Is there a "first and second world", since we have the 'third world'?

Answer 1

Originally, the First/Second/Third World divide was political, rather than economic. The First World was the USA and its allies (Canada, Western Europe, and a few others); the Second World was the USSR, China, and other Communist countries (Eastern Europe, Cuba, and a few others); and the Third World was everyone else - i.e., everyone who wasn't closely allied with either side.

After a while, it was noted that the countries in the third group tended to be the poorer countries, and the term "Third World" began to take on the connotation of poor and/or "developing" countries. The term "First World", particularly after the fall of the USSR, likewise became shorthand for the wealthy Western nations. You don't see "Second World" much anymore, though if you wanted you could use it to refer to the former Soviet and Eastern European states that are moving toward democracy and capitalism. You also sometimes see "Fourth World", which usually means the dead-end countries - those with no natural resources to speak of and that have very little hope of ever not being poor.

Answer 2

When the term was coined, the "first world" was made up of the industrialized democracies: the US, Western Europe and Japan, while the "second world" were the Communist Block countries of The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Answer 3

1st world is the USA.

2nd world is the rest of the mooks.

3rd world is africa and middle east