Numbers

Two-Thirds World

Since the early 1980’s, the term, “two-thirds world,” has been used—mostly by evangelical Christians—to indicate the less-developed countries of the world. This term builds on the more widely used term “third world,” but uses the word “third” in a different sense than the original definition. In the original definition, “third” was used to indicate an ordered set, i.e. “first,” “second,” “third,”etc.  In the new phrase, “third” is used to indicate portion or size, i.e. “half,” “third,” “quarter,” “fifth,” etc., and therefore, that most of the world’s population—the “two-thirds” in the phrase”—live in poverty.

How It's Used

"It is in the underdeveloped world of the poor and disadvantaged - evangelists call it the Two-thirds World - that Christianity is growing most rapidly. And for the most part it is growing at the expense of traditional religions, including mainstream Protestantism."

"Yet just as the world has been changing, so has evangelicals' economic thinking. Avowed free-market supporters were in a minority, but their ideas framed the discussion. And support for less intrusive government came not only from Americans, but also from 'two-thirds world' participants, in conference parlance."

"It is certainly important, from a political or developmental point of view, that we understand Chinese thought if we don't want to be seen as imposing our way of thinking on the rest of the world. Especially when decades of Western 'experts' have, as the IMF, CIDA [the Canadian International Development Agency] and the like now admit, made things worse for the two-thirds world!"

"'The radical right knows how to use technology and the media, and we want to be sure alternative voices are raised on issues relating to the Bible in the public square,' said Donald A. Wells, the executive director of the society. 'We want to see alternative views out there, in terms of justice for people, and care for the poor. And we want to open up the reading of the [Biblical] text to women, and to people from the two-thirds world, and to people of all sexual orientations - all people around the open text but hearing it in different ways.'"

"'Third World can be seen as offensive by some people, and other people have no problem with it,' explains Daranne Mills, communication director for the Winnipeg-based Canadian Lutheran World Relief. 'There's no one school of thought on that.' The term dates back to the Cold War, when it was used to describe countries not aligned with either the West or the Soviet Bloc. Mills says her organization prefers to use terms like the South, the two-thirds world, or the developing world."

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