Second World

In 1991, upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, only five communist states remained: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam.

The concept of "Second World" was a construct of the Cold War and the term is still largely used to describe former communist countries that are between poverty and prosperity, many of which are now capitalist states, such as Eastern Europe.

[1] The three-world theory has been criticized as crude and relatively outdated for its nominal ordering, and some sociologists have instead used the words "developed", "developing", and "underdeveloped" as replacement terms for global stratification (which have been criticized as displaying a colonialist mindset);[2] nevertheless, the three-world theory is still popular in contemporary literature and media.

Second World countries advocated socialism and shared certain characteristics such as centrally planned economic systems, single-party states, and mainly medium income levels.

[5] Some examples of Cold-War definition Second World countries were Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mongolia, North Korea, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and the German Democratic Republic.

The " Three Worlds " of the Cold War (between 30 April and 24 June 1975)
First World : Countries aligned with the Western Bloc (i.e., NATO and allies), led by the United States
Second World : Countries aligned with the Eastern Bloc (i.e., Warsaw Pact , China , and allies), led by the Soviet Union
Third World : The Non-Aligned Movement , led by India and Yugoslavia , and other neutral countries