What is 3rd world country

[Jeff Jarrett]

Any country where people living below the poverty line vastly outnumber middle class people, is considered a 3rd world country.

[Sweden]

Originally Posted by Tjukken

ur reasoning place Norway as 3rd world country.
but i have never ever heard any call Norway 3rd world country..

same with Sweden

Hehe, then you haven't met my neighbour in Sterling. When asked if I had ever heard of peanut crackers before, I said no.
This was unbelievable to her, and so she started asking these questions: "Do you have toilets in Sweden? Do you have electricity? Do you have cell phones?" (Ericsson, a Swedish company, produced the first cell phone in the world... Sigh)
And then her father told her to "Show respect. Many third world countries in Europe - like Sweden- are so poor that people there cannot even afford to bake bread."
And they were both dead serious.
So, according to them, the definition of a third world country is one where they do not have peanut crackers. Oh well, we all have different priorities...

I think I read sometime a long time ago in the science journal Illustrerad Vetenskap (Illustrated science) that the definition of either 2d or 3d had something to do with the Nazi Germany. I don't know when or in what specific journal I read that, so I can't go back and check what it actually said. Has anyone else heard of this?

I think jhlcomp's definition is the most like the one I've been taught. But Geography Freak's wasn't that bad either

A question: if we base the definitions on the Cold war-definitions, and we no longer (officially) have this "you're either with the USA or with the Sovjet Union", then /1. are there any 2d world nations today? /2. could one maybe re-define them as countries that chose either between the USA or the Middle east?

[Mona Mee]

This is a good point.
I have heard about first world countries and third world countries but never heard about second world countries......but may it exicts.

I am from Egypt and yes we are third world country.
Egypt has a great civilization like India,China and Greece.

Egypt is a very important country in the arab nations because we are trying to find political solutions for the region,and defend about it.

And also we have huge problems about many thing like education- science- economics and etc.... still work on it.

Maybe the countries which have an old civilizations don't want to make good progress because they depend on what they had in the past and just talk about it only.

China is not a third world ...right??

[macmeal]

Interesting post....and this terminology has often bothered me. Having grown up in the 50's (I served in the Viet Nam war), I remember the "Cold War" days, and I believe this term originated then. The "First World" was the "free", industrialized, generally prosperous nations (North America, Western Europe, Japan, others)....while the "Dark Side"....(or the "evil empire") was the two huge Communist giants, and their many satellite nations. (Eastern Europe, Mongolia, N.Korea. even Cuba). The "third world" was generally, at that time, understood to mean either nations truly neutral in this divide, OR nations so impoverished and backward that they weren't significant 'players' in the ideological struggle.

After the Cold War ran down, somehow "Third World" and "First World" have transformed from ideological terms into developmental ones. "First World" nations are those seen as having highly developed infrastructures and economies, PLUS (and this is important), some semblance of a representative government.

It's still a very 'vague' term. As a matter of fact, I don'r recall ever actually hearing the former Communist bloc referred to as the "second world"..it was just sort of understood. Is India a "First World nation"? Probably not....too much poverty. Is China?....again, no....it doesn't have a representative government. Argentina?.......Turkey?...Mexico?... probably not, but maybe soon. But again, these are debatable and inexact.

I've always thought that today it makes sense to label as "First World" those nations which have a predominantly middle-class lifestyle. America in recent years had a Middle Class approaching 85% of the population...though this is falling now. If the Middle Class can be loosely defined as those people who are "too poor to quit working, but rich enough to have options and choices, and not to become angry", then the Middle Class of ANY nation is one of constant effort which is rewarded...a class of optimism and hope.

The size of a nation's middle class to me is a much better indication of its "health" as a society than mere per-capita wealth. Some nations are quite wealthy, but it's all concentrated in a few hands, and the rest are desperately poor and angry, and likely to stay that way. To ME, that's the definition of a "Third World" country..one in which the "little guy" has no say in his own future, and where he doesn't "do things", but rather where "things are done TO him".

But again, it's a very inexact terminology, and others may differ with me.

[yuanben]

Originally Posted by Jeff Jarrett

Any country where people living below the poverty line vastly outnumber middle class people, is considered a 3rd world country.

yee, I absolutely support you.

[irman]

Originally Posted by Sweden

And then her father told her to "Show respect. Many third world countries in Europe - like Sweden- are so poor that people there cannot even afford to bake bread."
And they were both dead serious.
So, according to them, the definition of a third world country is one where they do not have peanut crackers. Oh well, we all have different priorities...

Geesj ...
Reminds me of when we lived in Switzerland where I was the Tech Transfer Idiot for the FA-18 they bought ....
I say *Idiot*, because that is how I felt when you have to deal with some Swiss people, who seem to think that beyond Basel, Geneve, and the St. Gotthart Tunnel, there is nothing ....
Our landlord saw our daughter come up with a couple of bottles of Pepsi Cola, and then he mentioned that Pepsi Cola was the Swiss answer to USA Coca Cola .... And he was dead serious also ....
About baking bread ....
Does this guy who stated that Swedes do not know how to bake bread,
knows himself how to bake bread .... ????? My opinion about bread in America is, that it is mostly underbaked .... !!
You mean that soft soggy white stuff in those polka dot bags is bread ????

first, second or third world ...
I think the State of Utah, in some areas, is third world quality, taking into account what is understood by most, of the term third world...
If you have ever driven in this state, you begin to wonder who taught them to build freeways ...
3 mile long On-Ramps ....
100 feet long Off-Ramps ....
On-Ramps that are *only* accessible for car pools ....
Off ramps, that bank the wrong way, so in winter you are guaranteed to slide off ....