global south

The term global south refers to countries and parts of the world that have historically been poorer and less economically developed.

The term is vaguely geographic as historically many more industrially and economically developed parts of the world were in the northern hemisphere, but it is not a strict hemispherical separation – notably Australian and New Zealand are part of the global 'north'.

Global south has largely replaced terms such as 'developing contries' and 'third world'.