When I was in Junior High (1960's) we were taught that it was the "free world", the "communist world" and the non-aligned countries, i.e. the "third world". Being third world has nothing to do with wealth or poverty. It's about political alignment.
“Being third world has nothing to do with wealth or poverty. It’s about political alignment.”
Thank you. I didn’t get into Junior High until the 1970s and by then they were misrepresenting what “third world” meant. I was taught that “third world’ related to the development of the country and it was largely judged by the standard of living of the average person in a given country.