Third World

During the Cold War, the Third World was the official rhetoric used by the United Nations and in Western mainstream media to refer to economically undeveloped countries, many of which were unaligned between the competing power blocs of the US/NATO/EU and the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact and Comecon allies. It was usually applied to the mostly undeveloped nations of Africa, Latin America, and Asian countries.

There term was considered offensive by many, and after the Cold War the rhetoric shifted to a two-fold division rather than threefold division - the "rich" Northern countries and "poor" Southern countries, which became the Global North and Global South. However the Russian Federation in the so-called Global North didn't fit the stereotype of a "rich" Northern country, other than its ability to retain a powerful military establishment. In the 21st century, the Russian Federation aligned with the Global South in the BRICS+ organization. The Western-controlled G7 remains of what's left of the Global North.