1st world: US, UK, West Germany, essentially western countries
2nd world: Soviets, East Germany, communist countries
3rd world: everyone who doesn’t fit the Cold War theater.
Either way, a GDP per capita of $15k isn’t considered “first” at whatever category you want to assign it by. Unfortunately there are no “1st world” countries in Latin America.
Really?! You do but you don't but you do want to be a stickler? ....
PS West Germany and East Germany are not separate countries. :)
I’m only mentioning this as people usually attribute it to only economic power.
“studying CS in 3rd world country 35k is a lot of money”
First world were countries allied with the US. Second world were countries allied with the USSR. Third world were neutral countries.
So Switzerland, Ireland, and Sweden are third world countries.
A "third-world country" was a country that wasn't aligned to either the Western countries (first world) or the Communist Bloc (second world).
These terms have become outdated, and "developing" countries is more commonly used now by, e.g., the press.