Third World is a term used along with First World and (to a much lesser extent) Second World to divide the nations of Earth into three broad socio-political and economic categories. The term was coined in 1952 by French demographer Alfred Sauvy to refer to what are now called developing or underdeveloped countries, especially in Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, which were not aligned with either the Soviet nor American blocs during the Cold War. Today, however, the term is synonymous with all countries in the developing world, independent of their political status