Lesson 9: The North and South Divide

• North-South Divide


  A socio-economic and political categorization of countries
• Countries in the North


  • First World countries
  • Most Second World countries
• Countries in the South


  • Third World countries
• Although most nations comprising the “North” are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is not primarily defined by geography.
• Australia and New Zealand are labeled as part of the North despite being in the Southern Hemisphere
• Permanent members of the UN Security Council

  • 4 out of 5 are from the North
• Members of the G8

  • All are from the North
• The North

  Covers the West and the First World, with much of the Second World
• The South

  Comprised of Third World countries
• The North

  • Developed economies, account for over 90% of all manufacturing industries, control 80% of total global income, 95% of population have access to basic needs and functioning education
• The South

  • Developing economies, low GDP, high population, only 20% of global income but 75% of global population, lack of basic amenities, economies rely on imports and have low technological penetration
• How to lessen the North-South Divide

  United Nations policies highlighted in Millennium Development Goals (now Sustainable Development Goals)
• The expression "North-South divide" is still in common use, but the terms "North" and "South" are already somewhat outdated
• Development Gap


  More recent term for the North-South divide, placing greater emphasis on closing the gap between rich (more economically developed) and poor (less economically developed) countries
• The North-South Divide is criticized for being a way of segregating people along economic lines and is seen as a factor of the widening gap between developed and developing economies.
• Countries making up the South are mainly drawn from Africa, South America, and Asia with all African and South American countries being from the South. The only Asian countries not from the South are Japan and South Korea.
• Countries comprising the North include The United States, Canada, all countries in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand as well as the developed countries in Asia such as Japan and South Korea.
• The origin of dividing countries into the North-South Divide arose during the Cold War. During this time, countries were primarily categorized according to their alignment between the Soviet (Eastern Bloc) and the American (Western Bloc).
• With the fall of the Soviet, key-player countries in the East like the Soviet Union and China were initially classified as Second World countries.
• In the west, the United States and its allies were labeled as First World countries.
• The poor countries were eventually labeled as Third World countries.
• New criteria was established to categorize countries which was named the North-South Divide where First World countries were known as the North while Third World countries comprised the South.