Clear and concrete definition of "Third World"

Question

Commonly, when I discuss with a pro-western American, or perhaps sometimes Europeans about an African Country I always hear this, "But it's third world" on investopedia.com "Third World" means:

"A Third World country is an outdated and offensive term for a developing nation characterized by a population with low and middle incomes, and other socio-economic indicators."

Aren't all nations developing? Since pretty much all nations have a GDP growth rate. Also, when I look at a map of "Developed" nations, almost every "Developed" nation is either part of NATO, cooperated with NATO, or is part of the EU. Then I came across another definition of "Third World" on NPR.org

"The First World consisted of the U.S., Western Europe, and their allies. The Second World was the so-called Communist Bloc: the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and friends. The remaining nations, which aligned with neither group, were assigned to the Third World."

Can someone provide me a clear and concrete definition of "Third World"? It seems as if the second definition makes sense but many people are using it in a way that means poor or just are using it offensively.

Answer 1

Originally, as you noted in your quote from NPR, the third world meant those countries who were neither part of the western/NATO alliance or the communist bloc.

Because those countries tended to be poorer nations, the term came to mean countries which were developing economies, a term that can also cause confusion, but generally refers to those countries which are at lower economic and infrastructural development levels than the western countries. The line is, not too surprisingly, a blurry one. Are Russia and China developed or developing countries? The answer, to a large extent, depends on where you would look—there are parts of both countries which can match the West in their economic and infrastructural levels, but there are also parts which lack, e.g., paved roads, electricity, telecommunications access, indoor plumbing. Then again, you can point at parts of the U.S. (shrinking, but still present) which also meet this criteria.

Because the use of “third world” as a marker for poor country is an informal (and discouraged) use, it would be hard to identify an exact line to draw, but I’ll offer a few possibilities:

Infrastructure: It’s generally assumed that in a third world country you will lack many of the following:

• Indoor plumbing
• Clean drinking water
• Electricity
• Phone/internet¹ access
• Paved roads
• Trusted law enforcement
• Democratically elected government

Economics: Third world economies would be characterized by

• Subsistence-level work (usually agriculture, although it may also be low-skill manufacturing or even trash-picking) where the people are just able to make enough income to provide for the most basic level of material needs
• Low per capita incomes and expenses (making these countries attractive for low-skill manufacturing)
• High levels of wealth inequality: the elites of the nation will, despite the masses being in poverty, have sufficient wealth to enjoy Western levels of luxury

And perhaps most controversially, but I think behind the deprecation of the term Third World, is the idea that to most Westerners, there is an inextricable connection between a country being non-White and Third World which reveals a subtle racism at play in both the application of the term (you’ll notice, for example, that most people would resist applying the term Third World to, say, Portugal, Spain or Greece, or even Russia, but not hesitate to apply it to Uruguay, India or China) and to the perpetuation of the situation (it’s a lot easier to declare that poverty is “just the way it is” if it affects people who are safely other).

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1. This marks a case of the goalposts moving—a decade or so ago, it might have been merely phone access, then merely internet access, and now it’s likely high-speed internet access.

Answer 2

Other answers discuss the use of "Third World" by Alfred Sauvy, and the subsequent application of the term to less economically developed countries in general.

It's worth noting that "Third World" was also used by Mao Zedong, in the context of a Three Worlds Theory which had similarities to, but was fundamentally quite different from, Sauvy's model. He seems to have first introduced this in a discussion with the president of Zambia, Kenneth David Kaunda, in February 1974. The idea was then presented by Deng Xiaoping in an address to the UN in April 1974.

To summarise, Mao's contention was that the Three Worlds consisted of:

• The First World (Imperialists)
  • The USA: the classical, capitalist, imperialist.
  • The USSR: the "social imperialist", which maintains a facade of socialism but is nevertheless engaged in imperial exploitation.
  • Engaged in constant conflict with each other, with the result that their coexistence is fundamentally unstable and at least one will ultimately be destroyed.
• The Second World (relatively weak developed countries)
  • Countries in Western Europe, Canada, Japan et al.
  • Lack the strength to engage in widespread imperialism on their own, but are generally able to resist direct exploitation by the imperialists.
  • Tend to alternately ally with and be bullied by the imperialists.
• The Third World (developing countries)
  • Essentially all of Asia (except the USSR and Japan), all of Africa and all of Latin America.
  • Prone to being exploited by the USA and USSR.
  • Can only resist imperialist aggression through "self-reliance" and mutually beneficial cooperation.

In some sense Mao's theory, with its consideration of economic development, is closer to the modern use of the term "Third World". However, as far as I'm aware they aren't directly connected.

I don't believe many people nowadays have Mao's idea of the "Third World" in mind when they use the term (except, maybe, Maoists?). Even so, I think it's of some historical and political interest, and perhaps it's possible to discern an influence from this theory in the rhetoric and policies of the modern Chinese government.