During the cold war Western largely democratic and capitalistic economies were referred to as the first world.   They were aligned against the Eastern/ Asian communist bloc which were referred to as the second world.

The Asian, African and Latin american countries not specifically aligned with either bloc and largely representing developing countries were classified as the third world.

Stereotypical

This classification, primarily instigated by first world leaders  was a clear example of bias and stereotypes in action.  The pompous first worlders assigned themselves status by using a numerical superior label (i.e., first).

Following the cold war, we continued with the need for unnecessary classification, where politics and market economies figure prominently in the grouping.

The third world is still a popular term for developing countries while emerging economies is now applied to countries with capital markets more stable than those of developing nations but still having a ways to go  before being robust first world countries.

BRIC

Leading the emerging economies is the BRIC block, that is Brazil, Russia, India and China.  Our need to classify as if one size fits all never seizes to amaze me.

A big problem with these broad groupings is they contain attached broad perceptions which are really unfair in some cases and clearly inaccurate in others.

I am sure we are all aware of impoverished war zones throughout the US with some  area of major cities no go zones for the police and other authorities.

Many so called third world and emerging market countries have well developed areas.  This mass labeling based on perceptions is really a poor practice.