[whb07]

Yes it is. I do not want to be that stickler but this is the charts for that term:

1st world: US, UK, West Germany, essentially western countries

2nd world: Soviets, East Germany, communist countries

3rd world: everyone who doesn’t fit the Cold War theater.

Either way, a GDP per capita of $15k isn’t considered “first” at whatever category you want to assign it by. Unfortunately there are no “1st world” countries in Latin America.

[dang]

Come on you guys. There's no need to descend into one of these circles of hell.

[Blackstone4]

> I do not want to be that stickler

Really?! You do but you don't but you do want to be a stickler? ....

PS West Germany and East Germany are not separate countries. :)

[whb07]

They were 30 years ago. The term “1st world” and “2nd world” came to existence in the second half of the 20th century.

I’m only mentioning this as people usually attribute it to only economic power.

[messick]

"X World" has gone he way of "begs the question", "Literally vs. Figuratively", "One bad apple..", etc. Popular usage has destroyed the original meaning, and it's no use trying to get people on board with what those phrases actually mean.

[perfmode]

this isn’t the way the OP used the term. they used it to make a statement about a lack of resources.

“studying CS in 3rd world country 35k is a lot of money”

[dullgiulio]

Soviets, East Germany... in 2018?

[nso]

The terms first, second and third world were coined during the cold war, during which those countries did exist.

First world were countries allied with the US. Second world were countries allied with the USSR. Third world were neutral countries.

So Switzerland, Ireland, and Sweden are third world countries.

[gnl]

While the terms may have been originally coined during the Cold War, the meaning and common usage has clearly changed. If you use 'third world countries' in a conversation hardly anyone will assume that you're including Switzerland in that. When enough people use a word "wrong" for a long enough time, they kinda stop being wrong.

[freyir]

You're getting downvoted, but you're right.

A "third-world country" was a country that wasn't aligned to either the Western countries (first world) or the Communist Bloc (second world).

These terms have become outdated, and "developing" countries is more commonly used now by, e.g., the press.

[jacquesm]

You really should read a couple of newspapers every now and then, East Germany no longer exists and most communist countries don't either.

[thaumasiotes]

This could be related to the fact that while you still hear a lot about "first-world" and "third-world" countries, you don't ever hear anyone use the term "second-world".