I don't think it was as cut and dried as that. To quote Wikipedia: By the end of the 1960s, the idea of the Third World came to represent countries in Africa,

I don't think it was as cut and dried as that. To quote Wikipedia: By the end of the 1960s, the idea of the Third World came to represent countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that were considered underdeveloped by the West based on a variety of characteristics (low economic development, low life expectancy, high rates of poverty and disease, etc.). For example, I agree China was usually considered Third World but so was Cuba (despite being Soviet aligned). And as far as I know Yugoslavia was never considered Third World despite it not being Soviet or US aligned. I guess my argument is that whilst Third World initially was a political label is turned into an economic one so quickly that the political aspects were mostly ignored. Instead terms like "non-aligned block" were mostly used in the political sphere to designate what "Third World" originally meant.