First World

This article is about the Western political concept. For the Maoist political concept, see Three Worlds Theory. For the fantasy play-by-mail wargame, see First World (game).

The concept of the First World was originally one of the "Three Worlds" formed by the global political landscape of the Cold War, as it grouped together those countries that were aligned with the Western Bloc of the United States. This grouping was directly opposed to the Second World, which similarly grouped together those countries that were aligned with the Eastern Bloc of the Soviet Union.

However, after the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the definition largely shifted to instead refer to any politically stable liberal democratic country with strong rule of law, a stable capitalist economy, and a relatively high standard of living. Various ways in which these metrics are assessed are through the examination of a country's GDP, GNP, literacy rate, life expectancy, and Human Development Index. In colloquial usage, "First World" typically refers to "the highly developed industrialized nations often considered the Westernized countries of the world".

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