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by fastball 3008 days ago
Sri Lanka is only the 51st "best country in the world" according to US News[1]. That's really not bad and not really 3rd world at this point.

[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/sri-lanka

2 comments

The term third world is often used incorrectly. It was created during the cold war to refer to countries that we're not in alliance with one of the dominant super powers (USA, USSR). [1]

People often use when they want to say "backwards" countries.

The correct term is developing world, which just means rapidly improving and doesn't cloudy the convo with connotations about the cold war.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

The term is not being used incorrectly.

The primary definition is now "underdeveloped countries" - because language changes over time.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/third%20world

Sorry, but the term "third world" has long been co-opted like "hacker".
That list is a bit weird though (looking at the top 10 overall)
The list looks about right. What do you find weird?