Is The Dominican Republic A Third World Country?

Recently I was watching one of Norberis R's videos and she mentioned that in her opinion that the Dominican Republic is not a third world country. 

I find her opinion to be interesting because in my comments sections people have written to me that I shouldn't compare the US and the Dominican Republic, because the DR is in fact a third world country. 

So I have been thinking is the Dominican Republic a third world country or isn't it? 

After doing some research I found some interesting information as it relates to the origins of the term third world country, the more popular term used today and an actual list of countries from the U.N. that could actually be considered "third world". 

Third World Origins 

So first off, the term third world never was related to a country's economic status, originally. It comes from the 1950's during a time where "first world" countries meant that you were aligned with the United States or Western countries. 

The "second world" meant that you were aligned with communist Russia. 

And finally the "third world" referred to countries that did not align with either communist Russia or the U.S and Western countries. 

So clearly, the term "Third World" is very outdated because it doesn't make any sense for how life is now and people who use this term are in fact using it out of context of the original meaning. 

Developing Nations 

Today it is more common for politically correct people to use the term developing nations for countries that are newly industrialized such as China, Brazil and India. 

However this term looses its significance because countries such as Somalia and Syria also fit under the umbrella of developing nations. But these countries are not developing at all, but rather struggling significantly. 

What Term Should We Use? 

Currently there is a list called " The United Nation's List of Least Developed Nations". If you look closely at this list there is a country on the Hispaniola island on the list, but it is not the Dominican Republic. 

Haiti and other similar countries facing serious issues can be considered a "Least Developed Nation". 

So in my opinion to call Dominican Republic a third world country is extremely inaccurate because that term just doesn't make sense today. 

Personally I feel like calling the Dominican Republic a developing country is the best fit, even though what a developing nation can look like has a wide range, but the Dominican Republic is definitely not a least developed nation by any standard.