What does a 3rd world country mean? Are “third countries” and “third world countries” the same thing? Least developed countries

The term “Third World countries” appeared in the second half of the twentieth century to designate states that did not take part in the so-called World War that began twenty years after the end of the Second World War. We owe the modern understanding of this phrase to the Frenchman Alfred Sauvy, who published his article in 1952 in one of the popular publications at that time. In his work, Sauvy compared the concept of third world (developing) countries with the concept of the third estate of people in Therefore, the main feature of third world countries since the 80s of the 20th century began to be considered a low level of income per capita, backwardness in the field of economics, politics and industry from others world states.

In order to understand what third world countries are, you must first understand which countries are commonly called developed. A developed country is a country whose government is able to provide its citizens with comfortable and healthy life against a safe background environment. The list of modern developed countries includes: France, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Israel, Germany, USA, Japan, Vatican, Portugal, etc. The main features of developing states today are: absence or weak manifestation of democracy, unstable market economy, lack of social human rights and guarantees.

So, developing countries are countries with a low level of social economic development. All countries in South America, Africa and most Asian countries are considered developing countries. They are characterized by an outdated economic model, low income levels, weak system education. According to some estimates, 20% of all adults currently remain illiterate. Key ones, also called industrial ones, surpass the previous ones in terms of economic development. These include: South Korea, Türkiye, India, Philippines, Singapore, Mexico, etc.

According to research by sociologists, third world countries differ:

Agricultural and raw material orientation of the economy;

Low quality work force;

Existence in the past in the form of colonies;

Heterogeneity social structure.

Development still plays a decisive role in the economy of many of these states. Agriculture and folk crafts. Almost all third world countries existed as colonies until the 20th century, which could not but affect the development of their economy and industry. The world's most underdeveloped countries include: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Laos, Somalia, Honduras, Guatemala. It should be said that the majority developing countries South Africa are situated in this moment V plight. These states cannot provide their residents with the opportunity to eat normally, have a roof over their heads, receive timely medical care, and attend educational institutions. The mortality rate in such countries from hunger, epidemics and murders is extremely high. Residents of economically favorable regions and countries enjoy all the benefits of civilization and strive for financial independence, while some representatives human race continues to live in extreme unfavorable conditions or the far north.

A special feature of many developing countries is the development of tourism as the main activity. The endless flow of travelers ensures material well-being many of their residents. Today there is no place in the world that a curious traveler would not visit. Therefore, we can safely say that many countries that lag behind world powers in terms of economics surpass them in the annual influx of tourists.

At the same time, a number of very serious problems arose in the liberated countries, called developing countries or Third World countries. These problems are not only regional, but also global character, and therefore can only be resolved with the active participation of all countries of the world community.

In accordance with the fairly flexible UN classification, most countries in the world are usually classified as developing countries, with the exception of developed industrial countries.

Despite huge variety economic life, Third World countries have and similar characteristics, allowing them to be combined into this category. The main one is the colonial past, the consequences of which can be found in the economy, politics, and culture of these countries. They have one way of forming the current industrial structure - the widespread predominance of manual production during the colonial period and the program of transition to industrial methods of production after independence. Therefore, in developing countries, pre-industrial and industrial types of production, as well as production based on the latest achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, closely coexist. But basically the first two types predominate. The economy of all Third World countries is characterized by disharmony in the development of industries National economy, which is also explained by the fact that they have not fully gone through successive phases of economic development, like leading countries.

Most developing countries are characterized by a policy of statism, i.e. direct government intervention in the economy in order to accelerate its growth rate. The lack of sufficient private capital and foreign investment forces the state to take on the functions of an investor. True, in last years In many developing countries, a policy of denationalization of enterprises began to be implemented - privatization, supported by measures to stimulate the private sector: preferential taxation, liberalization of imports and protectionism in relation to the most important enterprises that are privately owned.

Despite the important common characteristics that unite developing countries, they can be divided into several similar groups. In this case, it is necessary to be guided by such criteria as: the structure of the country’s economy, exports and imports, the degree of openness of the country and its involvement in the world economy, some features of the state’s economic policy.

Name the developed countries. A number of countries are among the least developed countries Tropical Africa(Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Chad, Togo, Tanzania, Somalia, Western Sahara), Asia (Kampuchea, Laos), Latin America (Tahiti, Guatemala, Guiana, Honduras, etc.). These countries are characterized by low or even negative growth rates. The agricultural sector predominates in the economic structure of these countries (up to 80-100%), although it is not able to meet internal needs for food and raw materials. The low profitability of the main sector of the economy does not allow relying on internal sources of accumulation for much-needed investments in the development of production, training of qualified labor, improvement of technology, etc.

The least developed countries are characterized by weak development of the market mechanism. This is due to the routine state of agriculture (an average of 80% of the self-employed population is occupied, creating only 42% of the gross domestic product, the underdevelopment of industry, and the low purchasing level of the population). The national capital, however, is largely concentrated in the commercial sphere. However, he prefers to occupy a niche of trade in imported goods and not invest in national production due to the high degree of risk.

The economy of this group of countries is characterized by the underdevelopment of production and auxiliary infrastructure, transport networks, electricity, communications systems, and banking, which does not at all contribute to attracting foreign investment and hinders the development of the economy based on meager domestic savings. Moreover, the 80-90s. There has been a tendency towards a decrease in the influx of foreign investment into their economy, which thereby becomes less open.

The structure of foreign trade is also not conducive to economic openness. All countries in this group are both exporters of agricultural products, the prices of which are most subject to fluctuations on the foreign market, and the largest importers of industrial products.

Negative Impact The economic development of these countries is influenced by the demographic situation. High population growth rates contribute to maintaining low income levels and restrain the growth of purchasing power. And low agricultural productivity combined with population growth leads to nutritional deficiencies and hunger.

In the world economy, the least developed countries occupy the place of the periphery, serving as suppliers of raw materials and cheap labor.

Countries with an average level of development. A large group of developing countries with an average level of economic development includes Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, the Philippines, Indonesia, Peru, Colombia, etc. The structure of the economy of these countries is characterized by a large share of industry compared to the agricultural sector, more developed domestic and foreign trade . This group of countries has great development potential due to the presence internal sources accumulation. These countries do not face such an acute problem of poverty and hunger. Their place in the world economy is determined by a significant technological gap with developed countries and large external debt.

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The Third World represents countries that have never fought in the ideological war between the socialist camp and capitalist countries; often by the Third World we mean backward or developing countries, although today all countries of the world can be equated to developing countries except the developed countries of the West. So, the world is divided into First, Second and Third. The First World is all developed capitalist countries, including all of Western Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and some other states and territories. The term Third World is the most common, since the countries of the First World are often simply called the developed West, the countries of the Second World the former Soviets.

It is believed that the term Third World first appeared in 1952 in an article by French scientist Alfred Sauvy, where the word was used to define countries that did not belong to the Warsaw Pact organization and NATO. The Third World is traditionally a place for which the countries of the former socialist camp and the capitalist camp are fighting; today Russia alone represents the socialist camp. The Third World often remains neutral in the struggle between Western world and Russia. Since 1974, attempts have been made to transform the Third World into an independent international political force, for example, from China into Maoism - a political theory and practice based on the system of ideological guidelines of Mao Zedong.

The Third World has traditionally been characterized by low income levels local population, but already since the 1980s, the GDP of many Third World countries has increased so much that it has surpassed the countries of the Second World.

Economic gap between the First and Third Worlds

Third World countries today show higher rates of economic growth than Western countries, but there are disadvantages in that, as a rule, in Third World countries, incomes increase primarily for a handful of elites, while the bulk of the population lives in poverty. The impetus for the economic development of Third World countries is globalization, the improvement of economic ties between leading players in business among leading and lagging countries.

The growth of the economy of the Third World countries is associated with improved social living conditions, increased levels of education, and investments from Western countries, but such regions often experience various wars and civil unrest, which weaken the growing economy. In this regard, the example of the countries of the Middle East and other countries that are sitting on the oil needle is indicative.

We also note that some countries of the Third World were once overseas colonies of European empires; after World War II, most of them gained independence, but at the same time their economic indicators worsened, as they lost support and reasonable management. Many Third World countries are completely dependent on trade and economic ties with First or Second World countries.

Third World countries often come to mind when it comes to migration or refugees to Europe or the USA, which are also competitors for refugees from Second World countries, surprisingly Russia is the world leader in refugees, at least it was until the active phase of the conflict began in Syria, although there have been no wars in Russia for a long time.

Theory three worlds- a conditional concept.

Today there is no clear division of territory according to this principle, however, there is a ranking of countries according to the level of GDP (the amount of domestic national product per capita of the country).

Thus, states are conventionally divided into three groups:

1. GDP per person is more than 9 thousand US dollars.
2. GDP per person is over 6 thousand US dollars.
3. GDP no more than 750 US dollars per person.

The third group includes third world countries. Wikipedia, citing data from Morgan Stanley, claims that all developing countries now account for half of the world's GDP.

History of the term

The division of all countries into groups on political and economic grounds was proposed by Mao Zedong. He included the superpowers - the USSR and the USA - in the first world; the second world was represented by intermediate powers - Europe, Canada, Japan. The Third World is all of Africa, Latin America and Asia.

There was also a Western theory of division into worlds, its author was Alfred Sauvy. On March 5, 1946, the cold confrontation between the USA and the USSR began. Differences arose over military, economic, ideological and geopolitical issues. IN cold war each side had allies. Soviet Union collaborated with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, China and other countries.

Many European states, as well as Thailand, Turkey, Japan, and Israel, supported the United States. Some countries remained neutral in the Cold War, and they were called the third world or developing countries.

Since 1952, states with a low level of economic development began to be classified as developing. By the end of the 20th century, some countries in this group were able to make a leap in their economy and overtake developed countries.

Developing countries today

According to UN terminology, the third world refers to developing countries. They share common characteristics in economics, politics and culture. The colonial period played a major role in the formation of common characteristics.

In these territories, manual production predominated; after independence, a sharp transition to industrial methods of labor organization began. Since there was no sequence of phases of economic development, sectors of the national economy were developed inharmoniously.

In developing countries, pre-industrial and modern types production. In most third world countries there is practically no foreign and private investment; the state itself has to play the role of an investor to increase the rate of economic growth. Except general characteristics, developing countries have a number of inconsistent characteristics.

Differences between developing countries

In the 21st century, many third world countries have the opportunity to develop thanks to economic ties with leading countries. The West invests in the economy, education, and medicine, but often civil unrest occurs in such countries, which slows down economic development. For many, the pressing question is whether Russia is a third world country. No, Russia is currently one of the rapidly developing countries.

List of third world countries

There are several lists of developing countries:

List of developing states according to the UN

Unlike the UN, the IMF included among the developing countries of the CIS and Russia, as well as some European countries- Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Poland, Lithuania. In its turn, The World Bank classifies Russia as developed countries. Such disagreements once again confirm that it is impossible to strictly divide the world along economic lines; all classifications are conditional.

In the 21st century, some states that were previously considered lagging behind are divided into a separate subgroup - oil-producing ones. It includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain. They became richest countries the world's largest oil exporters, but the unidirectionality and imbalance of the economy does not allow them to become developed.

According to the classification of the UN, IMF and World Bank countries with negative economic growth rates - Togo, Ethiopia, Chad and other African countries - are in the same group with the richest oil exporters, Latin America. Up to 90% of their economy is the agricultural sector, which is not able to provide raw materials and food to the needs of the local market. Such states are united in a subgroup - underdeveloped.

The largest third subgroup are states with an average level of development - Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Algeria. Developed here international trade, the problem of hunger and poverty is absent. Thanks to internal resources These states have great development prospects, but they have large external debt and a significant technological gap with developed countries.

The theory of developing countries will exist in various systems under different names. The lists of states will be updated, as many states will be able to rise to the level of developed ones, overcoming the barrier of backwardness.