CGW4UChapter 2: What Do You Know of the World?

Classifying Countries

A country’s level of development can be measured in a variety of ways – social development (the level of education, health care, jurisprudence, life expectancy, and rate of infant mortality in a society).

Economic development is a community’s material wealth and trade and is shown by such measures as the per capita GDP.

Using Two Groups

Developed/Underdeveloped Worlds - doesn’t distinguish between economic and non-economic development.

Developed/Developing Worlds – recognizes the fact that countries typically become more developed over time.

North-South – see Fig 2-2 on p.21.

Using Three Groups

First/Second/Third World – Capitalist countries, communist countries, and “South” countries.

Developed/Newly Industrializing/Developing

Using More Than Three Groups(Five-World model – see Fig 2-3 on

p.22)

First World – highest level of socioeconomic development (ie: Canada, Japan)

Second World – are or were communist (ie: Cuba, China, Russia)

Third World – well advanced in the transition to development (ie: Brazil, Mexico)

Fourth World – early stages of transition to being developed (ie: India, Indonesia)

Fifth World – little evidence of starting the transition towards development (Ie: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti).