THE FIRST ‘FIRST WORLD’ COUNTRY?

MBABANE – First World status is the goal Swaziland is vigorously pursuing and hoping to attain in the next eight years.
That would make Swaziland the first of the 61 countries on the continent to achieve that.

After 20 years of independence, the country’s neighbour, the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is listed among Third World countries, in spite of the fact that it is also listed as the richest country on the African continent, followed by Egypt, then Nigeria.
South Africa is also listed at number 25 on the list of the richest countries in the world, with a GDP of US$595.7 billion (about E600 trillion).
South Africa was the first country in the world to introduce and have what is today commonly known as Pay As You Go cellular phone technology, thus making the mobile cellular telephony attainable to people from all sectors of society.

The first successful heart transplant in the world was also performed by Dr Chris Barnard, a South African, on December 3, 1967.
That country also has motor vehicle manufacturing plants for some of the well known brands in the world such as Toyota, Mercedes Benz and Bavaria Motoren Werken (BMW), not to mention oil refineries such as SASOL.
In the mining industry, RSA is a producer of minerals such as gold, platinum and diamonds. South Africa also has sea ports and harbours.

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, has this to say about the term First World:
“The term itself was first introduced in the late 1940s by the United Nations. Today, the First World is slightly outdated and has no official definition; however, it is generally thought of as the capitalist, industrial, wealthy, developed countries that aligned with the United States after World War II.
This definition included most of the countries of North America, Western Europe, Australia and Japan. “In contemporary society, the First World is viewed as countries that have the most advanced economies, the greatest influence, the highest standards of living, and the greatest technology.”

Below is One World Nations Online’s explanation of the term.
“The term First World originally refers to the capitalist, industrialised countries within the Western European and United States’ sphere of influence, (e.g. member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The term also includes other industrialised countries such as Japan and some of the former British colonies, particularly Australia and New Zealand.
Whoever uses the term today in a variety of meanings, mostly tries to describe the top end of the evolution of countries.

“Nations with the most advanced economy, highest standard of living, the most advanced technology and the greatest influence in the world.
The term could also mean: industrialised nations, developed countries, rich countries or the civilised world, in contrast to the poor, under-developed, uncivilised, exploited nations of the so called Third World.”

As at 2013, Swaziland was listed number 67 out of 184 on the list of the world’s poorest countries based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), per capita, (per head/person), with a figure of US$5 806  GDP (PPP) per capita is GDP on a purchasing power parity basis divided by population.
Whereas PPP estimates for developed countries are quite reliable, PPP estimates for developing countries are often rough approximations.

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