What we today call the “developing world” began as a Cold War concept. “Third World” indicated states that belonged neither to the advanced capitalist West (“First World”), nor to the communist bloc (“Second World”). That this political division was also an economic one, became clear in 1981 with the “Brandt Report.” Prepared for the World Bank by former German Chancellor Willy Brandt, this document divided the globe into a wealthy North and an “underdeveloped” South. This info-graphic compares world regions by five social and economic indicators, and also highlights data for Cambodia, the location of this week’s WIDE ANGLE program.

Sources: Atlas of World Development (1994); Third World Atlas (1994); World Development Indicators (2002)