What is the difference between a 1st, 2nd and 3rd world country?

Question

I hear these terms all the time. I'm from the United States which is known to be a 1st world country. I recently went to Argentina which is known to be a 3rd world country, but to me the things they have there is similar to what we have here of course there are some difference but to me the majority is pretty much what we have in the usa such as the buildings, technology and etc. So i really don't understand the difference,

Answer 1

1st world countries are the ones that are capitalists, 2nd are communists, and 3rd are everyone else. Once you find out the difference between capitalists and communists, and how it became you will understand the concept.

Hope if helped and good luck!!!

Answer 2

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RE:
What is the difference between a 1st, 2nd and 3rd world country?
I hear these terms all the time. I'm from the United States which is known to be a 1st world country. I recently went to Argentina which is known to be a 3rd world country, but to me the things they have there is similar to what we have here of course there are some difference but to me the...

Answer 3

1st world countries are North America and Europe. The 2nd world countries is the Soviet empire and communism, and the 3rd world countries are everything else. The reasoning is that North America and Europe are the most advanced, the Soviets less so and everyone else even less so. Obviously the Soviet Union does not exist anymore, so the term 2nd world country is unused and anachronistic in these times. By this, the terms 1st world and 3rd world should not exist anymore. They are being phased out. The correct terms now are: developed countries, developing countries and undeveloped countries.

Answer 4

Don't listen to the money thing. It's not based on money, although it's true that 1st World countries are the richest, then 2nd world, then 3rd World, generally speaking.

The description is kind of obsolete now, since the downfall of the USSR. 1st World countries are those (capitalist) countries that were allied with the US. The 2nd World were those (socialist/communist) countries allied with the USSR. The 3rd World countries aren't associated with either side. Basically, they are the poor countries who neither the US nor the USSR cared about, or they were so poor they couldn't afford to pick a side.

No one really uses "2nd World" anymore because it's obsolete, but people do still refer to "1st World" countries as the most developed ones (those were the democracies allied with the US) and they use 3rd World because that sounds better than "poor countries." Though, it seems the 3rd World is increasingly being referred to by the euphemism of "developing country."

Answer 5

2nd World Country

Answer 6

The origin of the terminology is unclear. In 1952 Alfred Sauvy, a French demographer, wrote an article in the French magazine L'Observateur which ended by comparing the Third World with the Third Estate: "ce Tiers Monde ignoré, exploité, méprisé comme le Tiers État" (this ignored Third World, exploited, scorned like the Third Estate). Other sources claim that Charles de Gaulle coined the term Third World, maybe de Gaulle only has quoted Sauvy. However...

__Definitions

The term "First World" refers to so called developed, capitalist, industrial countries, roughly, a bloc of countries aligned with the United States after word war II, with more or less common political and economic interests: North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia.

Countries of the "First World"



"Second World" refers to the former communist-socialist, industrial states, (formerly the Eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic) today: Russia, Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland) and some of the Turk States (e.g., Kazakhstan) as well as China.

Countries of the "Second World"



"Third World" are all the other countries, today often used to roughly describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The term Third World includes as well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea) countries as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries.

Countries of the "Third World"

Answer 7

I think that the answer lies in Urbanization of the Country.

1st World Countries, the developed countries have more than 66% population or 2 in every 3 people of total population living in the cities . e.g. Singapore , Japan , USA , Germany , UK ..

3rd World Countries, the under developed countries have less than 33% of the total population living in the cities e.g. India , Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh ....

2nd World countries are those in between 33% - 66% population living in their cities

Answer 8

Ist world countries are the rich countries like US, Canada, Switzerland.
2nd world countries the developed countries but belonging to the communist bloc countries.
3rd world countries are the developing countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and most South American countries.