First World
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Coloured world map indicating Human Development Index (as of 2003). Countries coloured darker shades of green exhibit very high human development and are generally considered as "First World" in modern usage. |
The subjective terms
First World,
Second World, and
Third World were used to divide the nations of
Earth into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously. After
World War II, people began to speak of the
NATO and
Warsaw Pact countries as two major blocs, often using such terms as the "
Western bloc" and the "
Eastern bloc." The two "worlds" were not numbered. It was eventually pointed out that there were a great many countries that fit into neither category, and in the 1950s this latter group came to be called the Third World. (see
Third World for a fuller treatment of the history of the terms).
Eventually, nations within the Western European and
United States' sphere of influence (e.g., the
NATO countries) came to be called (unofficially) the
First World. Besides
North America (USA and
Canada) and
Western Europe, the First World also included other industrialized
capitalist countries such as
Japan and some of the former
British colonies, particularly
Australia, and
New Zealand.
There were a number of countries that did not fit comfortably into this neat definition of partition, including
Switzerland,
Sweden, and the
Republic of Ireland, who chose to be neutral.
Finland was under the Soviet Union's sphere of influence but was not
communist, nor was it a member of the
Warsaw Pact.
Austria was under the
United States' sphere of influence, but in 1955, when the country became a fully independent
republic, it did so under the influence that it remain neutral.
Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, was not predominantly in Western Europe and was not industrialized.
Spain did not join NATO until 1982, towards the end of the
Cold War and after the death of the authoritarian dictator
Francisco Franco.
In modern usage, after the end of the
Cold War, the term First World has come to denote the 'developed' Industrialized-Capitalistic nations that in 2000 had a higher
GDP per capita than $15,000, as stated by the
World Bank. This would include the
United States and
Canada in North America;
Japan,
Israel and
East Asian Tigers in Asia;
European microstates and
EU-15 number states (joined in 2000) in Europe;
Australia and
New Zealand in Oceania. Additionally, some of the rest EU numbers (joined after 2004) especially
Cyprus,
Czech Republic,
Malta and
Slovenia may be included in this group because their GDP per capita, human development and living standard are at or near fully developed status, compared with some of the above
developed nations.
In recent years, as many "developing" countries have industrialized, the term
Fourth World has been coined to refer to countries that have "lagged behind" and still lack industrial infrastructure. However, these are completely subjective terms usually used by people from economically dominant nations.
Some nations have developed their own classification scheme consisting of the "Third World," and the "Two-Thirds World." This system is similar to the former in that it also reflects economic status or behaviour. In terms of material resources, the "Third World" takes just one third of the pie, while the "Two-Thirds World" unjustifiably takes two-thirds of the pie.
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Second World*
Third World
