Country Classifications A north/south model of classifying countries Models for Grouping Countries in the World

Grouping Place the following countries in a group (1-5) based on their overall success, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. Canada, Algeria, Brazil, England, Russia, China, Japan, Egypt, Israel, Germany, Argentina, Portugal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Australia, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Saudi Arabia

Country Classification Most countries can be grouped according to their level of social and economic development More Developed = Higher Ranking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTznEIZRkLg

Criteria for Country Classification Social Development: level of education, health care, legal system, life expectancy, rate of infant mortality, etc.

Criteria for Country Classification Economic Development: GDP (Gross Domestic Product), ratio of cars to people, per capita electrical power capacity, etc.

Missed it? Terms such as Developed, Newly Industrialized and Developing have been used to group countries together based on similar social and economic development criteria.

A Three World Model of Country Classification 1.) Developed Countries Socially and economically I.E. Canada, the US, Germany, France, Japan.

A Three World Model of Country Classification 2.) Newly Industrialized Countries: Identified based on economic characteristics In transition from agriculture base to industrialized based. I.E. India, China, Brazil and Mexico.

A Three World Model of Country Classification 3.) Developing Countries Moving towards progressive social/economic status I.E. Bangladesh, Haiti, Ethiopia, etc…

Problems? Too general Does not account for history Can we have a world full of first world countries?

A Five World Model for Classifying Countries 1.) First World Countries (Developed countries. I.E. Canada, US, Germany, France, Netherlands, etc…)

A Five World Model for Classifying Countries 2.) Second World Countries: Those that were or are communist countries. Similar social development, lacking economic development. (or vise versa) I.E. China, Cuba, Russia, etc…

Why are communist countries in this group? Corrupt governments Communism works in theory but not in practice Wealth is never evenly distributed

A Five World Model for Classifying Countries 3.) Third World Countries (Newly Industrialized) I.E. India, China, Brazil, etc…

A Five World Model for Classifying Countries 4.) Fourth World Countries Early stages of development I.E. Rwanda, Swaziland, etc.

A Five World Model for Classifying Countries 5.) Fifth World Countries Little evidence of any transition beginning Often affected by war, drought, corruption, and natural disasters I.E. Haiti, Afghanistan, Congo, Somalia, etc.