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Old 01-01-2019, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Spain
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Since end of cold war I think the consensus have moved away from geopolitical factions is now used to reference a developing or poorer country. So where do we draw the line?

In the "five words of less" thread many people determined that China is not a third world country, and I don't get it. Sure China has first-tier mega cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc. but China's average annual wages are about 11k and there are hundreds of millions that lack very basic things that the poor in USA take for granted.

So what defines a third world country in 2019?
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Old 01-01-2019, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Taipei
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Any country that's not a developed country would be a third world country.
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Old 01-01-2019, 05:44 PM
 
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Thank you for recognizing that the original term had to do with countries that were not aligned either with the west (first world) or USSR (2nd world).

As currently used, it's generally a pejorative term for poorer countries. One where you might see animals used for transport or farming, where public health can be an issue, and education levels are low.

In that sense, most countries have third world aspects to them. Some areas of the southeastern US could qualify, and generally rural areas in developing countries such as China and India would similarly qualify.

I suspect most people use it as a shorthand for "not G20"
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Old 01-01-2019, 05:55 PM
 
Location: Taipei
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbrains View Post
I suspect most people use it as a shorthand for "not G20"
Uh no. Like more than half of G20 are third world af. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Norway etc. are all not G20 while countries like India and Nigeria are.

The definition of the third world would be every country that is not:
USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
EEA + Switzerland (minus the poorest ones like Romania and Bulgaria)
European microstates
Japan
4 Asian Tigers + Macau
Israel

In terms of HDI, it'd be all countries other than those ranked within top 35 or so.
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Old 01-01-2019, 06:03 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greysholic View Post
Uh no. Like more than half of G20 are third world af. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Norway etc. are all not G20 while countries like India and Nigeria are.

The definition of the third world would be every country that is not:
USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
EEA + Switzerland (minus the poorest ones like Romania and Bulgaria)
European microstates
Japan
4 Asian Tigers + Macau
Israel

In terms of HDI, it'd be all countries other than those ranked within top 35 or so.
Fair enough. I would agree that the criteria is now generally economic in nature, and G20 is too simplistic.
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Old 01-01-2019, 06:24 PM
 
Location: State of Denial
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There is the middle ground: "developing nations".
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Old 01-01-2019, 06:57 PM
 
Location: Taipei
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbrains View Post
Fair enough. I would agree that the criteria is now generally economic in nature, and G20 is too simplistic.
G20 is the organisation for the 20 largest economies, not wealthy ones. It's also political since they have a handful of countries that are nowhere near top 20 in it because they need African representatives (South Africa and Nigeria) or some other bull**** reasons.
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Old 01-01-2019, 08:33 PM
 
Location: Tulsa
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China and Mexico are probably first-tier third world countries.

There are a lot of third world countries that are ten times worse. Not all third world countries are equally bad.

But even the better third world countries are distinctly different from even just entry-level developed countries(Italy, South Korea).

Travelers are generally more concerned with safety than everything else. China is probably the safest third world countries, followed by touristy cities in SE Asia. The low standard of living among locals doesn't bother travelers much.
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Old 01-01-2019, 09:29 PM
 
Location: Wasilla, AK
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Take trip to Venezuela. That should give you a pretty good idea.
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Old 01-02-2019, 12:50 AM
 
6,115 posts, read 3,059,670 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang View Post
Since end of cold war I think the consensus have moved away from geopolitical factions is now used to reference a developing or poorer country. So where do we draw the line?

In the "five words of less" thread many people determined that China is not a third world country, and I don't get it. Sure China has first-tier mega cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc. but China's average annual wages are about 11k and there are hundreds of millions that lack very basic things that the poor in USA take for granted.

So what defines a third world country in 2019?
I think what makes a country, a third world county, is the amount of corruption in government and private sector.

Here is a map to get a general idea.

https://m.ranker.com/list/the-most-c....google.com%2F
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