Second World

During the Cold War, countries were divided into three ‘worlds’ based on their lines of allegiance. The First World refers to countries aligned with the United States which were mostly capitalist and democratic, the Third World was made up of neutral and non-aligned countries, and the Second World comprised those countries allied with the Soviet Union. The term initially referred to nineteen communist countries, but since the fall of the Soviet Union, the term Second World has largely fallen out of use. The meaning of the Three World Model has changed over time from political to economic, with First World referring to developed countries, Third World being developing countries, and Second World countries lying between these two extremes.