The “underdeveloped world” is a term used to describe the “third world.” The third world was a common term used to differentiate between countries that aligned with neither the West nor the [Page 1793]East during the cold war. In academic literature, several terms such as the South, underdeveloped, less developed, and developing have since been used interchangeably to describe these countries.

While it should be recognized that there is a great deal of diversity among underdeveloped countries in relation to geographical location, climatic conditions, religion, population size, resource endowments and the extent of dual economy, in broad terms they share several common characteristics. These are: Low standards of living, low levels of productivity, high rates of population growth, high levels of unemployment, strong economic dependency on ...