What is ‘first world’ and ‘third world’? Where did the phrases come from and is there a ‘second world’?
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They all came from the Cold War
First World countries were aligned with NATO. This included Western Europe (West of the German split), Australia, Canada, US, Japan, and some that would surprise you today like Turkey, Iran, and Thailand. The First World countries weren’t all rich and powerful but many of them were and they’d help their friends.
Second World countries were aligned with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw pact. This was eastern Europe, Russia, a lot of the Stans, China, and Cuba. Beliefs and standards of living were very different between the first and second world countries, especially later in the Cold War as the Soviet union struggled.
Then there were Third World countries that weren’t aligned with either. Today you think of Third World countries as being poor African countries but it also included places like Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, and Finland who were just trying to stay out of the tussle between neighbors.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union over 30 years ago the Second World has largely fallen out of use and Third world is often inappropriately applied to Developing countries regardless of their alignment
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