"Third world" hasn't been meaningful since the end of the cold war. (Originally it meant the countries that were aligned with neither the Soviet Union or NATO.

"Third world" hasn't been meaningful since the end of the cold war. (Originally it meant the countries that were aligned with neither the Soviet Union or NATO.) Now the fashionable terms are "developed" and "developing" (which basically mean "rich" and "poor" and so are obviously two ends of a spectrum, not clearly-defined categories).