Why Does the Third World Exist?

The idea that third world nations still exist in the 21st century is quite surprising. With such advanced technologies in the modern world, why are some countries still in poverty while others are living in luxury? Before this question is answered, you may be wondering what exactly a third world nation is. A Third world nation is a phrase to describe underdeveloped nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America. They are in a “third” group of nations because they are allied with neither the United States, nor the Soviet Union and communism. These nations tend to be economically underdeveloped and have a lot of poverty. Colonialism from the 1400s throughout the 1900s is the reason why the third world exists. Three reasons as to why this is true is because colonial powers took away natural resources from colonies, colonialism caused lack of self-determination for the leaders in colonies, and the brain drain took away intelligent people from the colonies.

One reason as to why the third world exists because of colonialism is the fact that colonial powers took away a lot of resources from the colonies. Colonial powers would take a lot of raw materials from colonies, which then resulted in a lack of development and economic growth. Africans gave away resources such as West African palm oil, cobalt, uranium, and land. West African Palm oil was vital in the production of soap during the Industrial Revolution. Cobalt was used in jet engines and uranium helped in the production of the first atomic bomb. White settlers from colonial powers also took away vast areas of the best farm land, which resulted in very little land for farming for the Africans. With all of these complications in developing nations like Africa, it left the continent with lack of resources which ultimately made it extremely difficult to become more economically developed. One example to support this is, “European countries realised that by taking control of African territories they could secure a very cheap supply of raw materials that would ensure industrial success and overall economic prosperity” (Imperialism and socialism in the context of Africa). This shows how the takeover of resources by the Europeans resulted in industrial success, but failure in Africa’s dreams of success. The lack of resources in developing countries is one of many reasons why the third world exists.

Another reason as to why the third world exists because of colonialism is due to the brain drain in Africa. The brain drain can be described as the process in which a country loses its most educated and talented workers to other countries through migration (What Is Brain Drain in Economics? - Definition, Causes, Effects & Examples). Due to the takeover of Africa by west European countries, Africans were forced to leave their homeland to the European’s land. This is considered a problem because the educated people left their country which