- By Supratik Das
- Fri, 28 Nov 2025 01:10 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
What Are 3rd World Countries: US President Donald Trump on Friday declared that his administration would move to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries”, marking what could become one of the most sweeping shifts in American immigration policy in decades.
The announcement came less than a day after a fatal shooting near the White House that left one National Guard soldier dead and another critically wounded.
In a detailed post on Truth Social, Trump argued that the United States must “restore domestic stability” and reverse what he called “millions of Biden-era illegal admissions”. He claimed that some of those admissions were processed using “unauthorised Autopen signatures” and said his administration would now focus on removing “anyone who is not a net asset” to the country.
What Does ‘Third World’ Actually Mean?
The term “Third World” originated during the Cold War, when nations were placed into three broad geopolitical groups. The First World included democratic, industrialised nations allied with the United States. The Second World comprised the communist bloc led by the Soviet Union. Countries that belonged to neither camp, many in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, were labelled the Third World.
French demographer Alfred Sauvy introduced the term in 1952, initially referring to political alignment, not economic status. Under that definition, even neutral and today’s highly developed nations like Switzerland, Finland, and Austria would technically fall into the Third World category.
Least Developed Countries And UN Classifications
International organisations now avoid the term "Third World Countries". The United Nations instead uses categories such as “Least Developed Countries” (LDCs), “developing economies”, or “low-income states”. As of December 2024, the UN lists 44 LDCs. These classifications rely on economic, social, and structural indicators, not political alignments.
These 44 LDCs are distributed among the following regions:
- Africa (32): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia
- Asia (8): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste, and Yemen
- Caribbean (1): Haiti
- Pacific (3): Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu
Is India A Third World Country?
Whether India falls under Trump’s proposed category is unclear because the US President has not defined what he means. Historically, India was non-aligned during the Cold War, which would place it in Sauvy’s Third World grouping. In modern economic terms, India is classified as a developing country, not an LDC.
According to the UN, India is not part of the world’s 44 least developed nations. But by some global HDI-based listings, India is included in broader groups of developing or lower-middle-income countries.
With Trump tying national security and economic recovery to immigration restrictions, the proposal could affect millions of students, workers, and asylum-seekers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. If implemented, the policy would represent one of the most far-reaching immigration actions by any US administration in recent history