A map of countries often considered to have made up the "Second World" from the 1950s through to the 1980s.

The three worlds during the Cold War era;      First World      Second World      Third World

The term "Second World" is a phrase that was used to describe the Communist states within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Along with "First World" and "Third World", the term has been used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. The term has largely fallen out of use since the end of the Cold War. The other two 'worlds' are still widely talked about, although "First World" is now deprecated for the more politically correct "developed country" and "Third World" has been replaced with "developing country". Image File history File links Secondworld-extended. ... Image File history File links Secondworld-extended. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1265x629, 21 KB) Summary Shows traditional location of First world Second world Third World during the w:Cold War, I made the map w:First world Blue - developed countries w:Second world Red - former communist countries (not as common a used... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1265x629, 21 KB) Summary Shows traditional location of First world Second world Third World during the w:Cold War, I made the map w:First world Blue - developed countries w:Second world Red - former communist countries (not as common a used... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... This article is about a form of government in which the state operates under the control of a Communist Party. ... The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. ... World map indicating Human Development Index (as of 2004). ...  High human development Medium human development Low human development Unavailable (colour-blind compliant map)   Developing countries not listed as least developed countries or as newly industrialized countries, in their respective articles. ...

History

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 1952 French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term "Third World" to describe these countries; retroactively, the first two groups came to be known as the "First World" and "Second World". Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... This article is about the military alliance. ... Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... NATO 2002 Summit The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on April 4, 1949. ... A map of the Eastern Bloc 1948-1989. ... Map of countries by population Population growth showing projections for later this century Demography is the scientific study of human population dynamics. ... Alfred Sauvy by Erling Mandelmann © http://www. ...

Definition

The term was used to refer to nations within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence, e.g. the Warsaw Pact countries, as well as farther-flung Soviet Allies such as Cuba and North Vietnam. Besides the Soviet Union proper, most of Eastern Europe was run by satellite governments working closely with Moscow. The term "Second World" may or may not also refer to Communist countries whose leadership were at odds with Moscow after the Sino-Soviet split, such as Albania. After the split with Soviet Union, China considers itself a Third World country. North Korea pursues an isolationist policy that even distances itself from both China and Soviet Union, thus it is also sometimes considered Third World. There were a number of countries which did not fit comfortably into this neat partitioning of the world, including Switzerland, Sweden, Yugoslavia, and the Republic of Ireland, who all chose to remain 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 within the United States' sphere of influence, but in 1955, when it became a fully independent republic, it did so under the condition that it remain neutral. Yugoslavia, a socialist southeast European country, was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Albania was a communist east European country which withdrew from the Warsaw Pact over ideological differences in 1968 and had stopped supporting the Pact as early as 1962. Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN), or less commonly, Vietnamese Democratic Republic (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa), also known as North Vietnam, was proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, September 2nd1945 and was recognized by the Peoples Republic of China and the... Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ... The Sino-Soviet split was a major diplomatic conflict between the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), beginning in the late 1950s, reaching a peak in 1969 and continuing in various ways until the late 1980s. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... Isolationism is a diplomatic policy whereby a nation seeks to avoid alliances with other nations. ... Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croatian (spoken throuout the territory), Slovenian, Macedonian, Albanian, Hungarian (all official), and languages of other nationalities. ... Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croatian (spoken throuout the territory), Slovenian, Macedonian, Albanian, Hungarian (all official), and languages of other nationalities. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe southeastern Europe (see the Definitions and boundaries section below). ... Member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (2005). ...

Alternatively, First World countries may be defined as having developed market economies, Second World as having developed planned economies, and Third World as having developing economies that may follow either the market or the planned model. The fall of communism and the end of most planned economics has also made this distinction largely moot. A market economy (also called a free market economy or a free enterprise economy) is an economic system in which the production and distribution of goods and services take place through the mechanism of free markets guided by a free price system. ... This article refers to an economy controlled by the state. ...  High human development Medium human development Low human development Unavailable (colour-blind compliant map)   Developing countries not listed as least developed countries or as newly industrialized countries, in their respective articles. ...

Additionally, the term is often used incorrectly, to describe a moderately developed country. This is most likely based on the misconception that the First World refers to the developed world, the Third World the developing world, and thus the Second World is an intermediate level between the two. To help with this problem, a newer term, Fourth World, was coined to refer to only the most impoverished nations, to distinguish more developed "third world" nations from completely undeveloped "third world" nations.

See also

• First World
• Third World
• Three Worlds Theory
• Fourth World
• Second Superpower
• Human Development Index
• Cold War