Is India A Third World Country?

Is India A Third World Country?

To understand whether India can be labelled as a ‘Third World’ country, there is first the need to understand what the term ‘Third World’ exactly means.

What Does The Term ‘Third World’ Denote?

In recent times, the term has been used to denote the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The ‘Third World’ countries are often associated with significant levels of poverty and a low pace of industrial development. Thus, the term is often considered as offensive.

The Origin Of The Term ‘Third World’

Alfred Sauvy, a French historian first coined the term ‘Third World’ in 1952. At that time, the term denoted the countries that were neither a part of the Soviet Bloc nor were they one of the countries of the West. Thus, at the time of its formation, the ‘Third World’ term denoted countries not aligned to the Communist Bloc or NATO. Thus, at the time of the Cold War, the world was divided into three groups of nations: the First World including the countries of Western Europe, the US, Canada, South Korea, and Japan; the Second World which was represented by the Soviet Union, China, and their allies like Cuba; and the Third World which included the other countries of the world. Thus, initially, the term ‘Third World’ had a purely political connotation. 

An Ambiguous Term

Thus, although in most modern contexts, the term is used to denote countries that are economically less powerful, a clear or agreed-upon definition of ‘Third World Countries’ is still lacking. The fact that most of the countries under the ‘Third World’ category as per the original definition were extremely poor and industrially backward, led to the birth of the stereotype that all ‘Third World’ countries are poor and underdeveloped.

Is India A Third World Country?

If the original politically-aligned definition of third world countries is considered then India can be regarded as a ‘Third World’ country as it was neither a member of the Communist Bloc nor a ‘Western’ country. However, in the present context, the classification of India as a ‘Third World’ country on the basis of economic status and industrial development might appear unacceptable to many. India is a rapidly developing economy and is one of the BRIC countries that also includes Brazil and China. India is far better off that many other nations of the world that are classified under the umbrella of ‘Third World’ country. Many nations of Africa with high rates of poverty and negligible industrial growth are also included in this category. Thus, the inclusion of the newly industrialized countries like India, China, and Brazil in the list of ‘Third World’ countries becomes questionable. 

The ambiguity of the term ‘Third World’ is not only restricted to India or the BRIC countries. For example, if the term is associated with its original political connotation, then many of the prosperous European nations like Sweden, Australia, Switzerland that were non-aligned to either the Communist Bloc or NATO, can be regarded as members of the ‘Third World’. Again, Cuba that was politically a member of the ‘Second World’ could also be regarded as a member of the ‘Third World’ based on its economic situation.

Thus the question of ‘Is India A Third World Country?’ remains a question without any clear answer.