View source for Global North and Global South

{{Short description|Terms that denote two groups of countries}}
{{Distinguish|Northern Hemisphere|Southern Hemisphere}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=January 2024}}
[[File:World map. UNCTAD classification of economies.png|thumb|Economic classification of the world's countries and territories by the [[UN Trade and Development|UNCTAD]] in 2023: the Global North (i.e., [[Developed country|developed countries]]) is highlighted in blue and the Global South (i.e., [[Developing country|developing countries]] and [[least developed countries]]) is highlighted in red.<ref name="UNCTAD"/><ref name="classfications">{{cite web|title=Classifications – UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2023|url=https://hbs.unctad.org/classifications/|publisher=unctad.org}}</ref><ref name="tdstat47"/>]]
'''Global North''' and '''Global South''' are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to [[socioeconomics]] and [[Global politics|politics]]. According to [[UN Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly comprises [[Africa]], [[Latin America and the Caribbean]], Asia (excluding [[Israel]], [[Japan]], and [[South Korea]]), and [[Oceania]] (excluding [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]).<ref name="UNCTAD"/><ref name="tdstat47">{{cite web|title=Handbook of Statistics 2022|url=https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/tdstat47_en.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212074134/https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/tdstat47_en.pdf|archive-date=2022-12-12|quote=Note: North refers to developed economies, South to developing economies; trade is measured from the export side; deliveries to ship stores and bunkers as well as minor and special-category exports with unspecified destination are not included. |page=21 |publisher=unctad.org |language=en}}</ref>{{efn|name=HKSGTW|Although [[Hong Kong]], [[Macau]], [[Singapore]] and [[Taiwan]] have very-high [[Human Development Index|Human Development Indices]] and are classified as [[advanced economies]] by the [[International Monetary Fund]], UN Trade and Development classifies them as the Global South. Also, Singapore is the one of [[Small Island Developing States]].}} Most of the Global South's countries are commonly identified as lacking in their [[standard of living]], which includes having [[Gross national income|lower incomes]], high levels of [[poverty]], high [[Population growth#Population growth rate|population growth rates]], inadequate housing, limited educational opportunities, and deficient [[health system]]s, among other issues.{{efn |name="charac" |{{multiref2
|1={{cite book |last1=Thomas-Slayter |first1=Barbara P. |title=Southern Exposure: International Development and the Global South in the Twenty-First Century |date=2003 |publisher=Kumarian Press |location=United States |isbn=978-1-56549-174-8 |page=9–10 |quote=among the countries of the Global South, there are also some common characteristics. First and foremost is a continuing struggle for secure livelihoods amidst conditions of serious poverty for a large number of people in these nations. For many, incomes are low, access to resources is limited, housing is inadequate, health is poor, educational opportunities are insufficient, and there are high infant mortality rates along with low life expectancy. ... In addition to the attributes associated with a low standard of living, several other characteristics are common to the Global South. One is the high rate of population growth and a consequent high dependency burden — that is, the responsibility for dependents, largely young children. In many countries almost half the population is under fifteen years old. This population composition represents not only a significant responsibility, but in the immediate future, it creates demands on services for schools, transport, new jobs, and related infrastructure. If a nation's gross national income (GNI) is growing at 2 percent a year and its population is growing at that rate too, then any gains are wiped out.}}
|2={{cite book |last1=Speth |first1=James Gustave |last2=Haas |first2=Peter |title=Global Environmental Governance: Foundations of Contemporary Environmental Studies |date=2013 |publisher=Island Press |isbn=978-1-59726-605-5 |page=58 |quote=Poverty, lower life expectancies, illiteracy, lack of basic health amenities, and high population growth rates meant that national priorities in these countries were firmly oriented toward economic and social objectives. The global "South", as these nations came to be known, considered their development priorities to be imperative; they wanted to "catch up" with the richer nations. They also asserted that the responsibility of protecting the environment was primarily on the shoulders of the richer "Northern" nations}} }} }} Additionally, these countries' cities are characterized by their [[Infrastructure#In the developing world|poor infrastructure]].{{efn|{{multiref2
|1={{cite book |last1=Graham |first1=Stephen |title=Disrupted Cities: When Infrastructure Fails |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-85199-6 |page=131 |quote=In much debate on cities in the Global South, infrastructure is synonymous with breakdown, failure, interruption, and improvisation. The categorization of poorer cities through a lens of developmentalism has often meant that they are constructed as "problem". These are cities, as Anjaria has argued, discursively exemplified by their crowds, their dilapidated buildings, and their "slums". }}
|2={{cite book |editor1-last=Adey |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Bissell |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Hannam |editor3-first=Kevin |editor4-last=Merriman |editor4-first=Peter |editor5-last=Sheller |editor5-first=Mimi |title=The Routledge Handbook of Mobilities |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-93413-4 |page=470 |quote=In many global south cities, for example, access to networked infrastructures has always been highly fragmented, highly unreliable and problematic, even for relatively wealthy or powerful groups and neighbourhoods. In contemporary Mumbai, for example, many upper-middle-class residents have to deal with water or power supplies which operate for only a few hours per day. Their efforts to move into gated communities are often motivated as much by their desires for continuous power and water supplies as by hopes for better security.}}
|3={{cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=Andrew P. |title=Global Catholicism in the Twenty-first Century |date=2018 |publisher=Springer Singapore |isbn=978-981-10-7802-6 |page=9 |quote=The global south remains very poor relative to the north, and many countries continue to lack critical infrastructure and social services in health and education. Also, a great deal of political instability and violence inhibits many nations in the global south.}} }}
|name="infra"}} Opposite to the Global South is the Global North, which the UNCTAD describes as broadly comprising [[Northern America]] and Europe, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.<ref name="UNCTAD"/><ref name="tdstat47"/>{{Efn|name=HKSGTW}} Consequently the two groups do not correspond to the [[Northern Hemisphere]] or the [[Southern Hemisphere]], as many of the Global South's countries are geographically located in the north and vice-versa.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Introduction: Concepts of the Global South |url=http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/451 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904205139/http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/451 |archive-date=2016-09-04 |access-date=2016-10-18 |publisher=gssc.uni-koeln.de}}, {{cite web |title=Concepts of the Global South |url=https://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/6399/1/voices012015_concepts_of_the_global_south.pdf |access-date=2024-03-10 |publisher=gssc.uni-koeln.de}}</ref>

More specifically, the Global North consists of the world's [[Developed country|developed countries]], whereas the Global South consists of the world's [[Developing country|developing countries]] and [[least developed countries]].<ref name="tdstat47"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nora |first1=Mareï |last2=Michel |first2=Savy |date=January 2021 |title=Global South countries: The dark side of city logistics. Dualisation vs Bipolarisation. |journal=Transport Policy |volume=100 |pages=150–160 |doi=10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.11.001 |s2cid=228984747 |quote=This article aims to appraise the unevenness of logistics development throughout the world, by comparing city logistics (notion that we define) between developing countries (or Global South countries) (where 'modern' and 'traditional' models often coexist) and developed countries (or Global North countries)|doi-access=free }}</ref> The Global South classification, as used by governmental and developmental organizations, was first introduced as a more open and value-free alternative to ''[[Third World]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mitlin |first1=Diana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYdeNdKrp8sC&pg=PA13 |title=Urban Poverty in the Global South: Scale and Nature |last2=Satterthwaite |first2=David |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-62466-4 |page=13 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and likewise potentially "valuing" terms such as ''developed'' and ''developing''. Countries of the Global South have also been described as being newly [[industrialisation|industrialized]] or in the process of industrializing. Many of them are current or former subjects of [[colonialism]].<ref name="Mimiko 2012 47">{{cite book |last1=Mimiko |first1=Nahzeem Oluwafemi |title=Globalization: The Politics of Global Economic Relations and International Business |date=2012 |publisher=Carolina Academic Press |isbn=978-1-61163-129-6 |page=47}}</ref>

The Global North and the Global South are often defined in terms of their differing levels of [[wealth]], economic development, [[income inequality]], and [[The Economist Democracy Index|strength]] of [[democracy]], as well as by their [[political freedom]] and [[economic freedom]], as defined by a variety of [[List of freedom indices|freedom indices]]. Countries of the Global North tend to be [[wealth]]ier, and capable of exporting technologically advanced manufactured products, among other characteristics. In contrast, countries of the Global South tend to be poorer, and heavily dependent on their largely [[Agrarianism|agrarian-based]] [[Primary sector of the economy|economic primary sectors]].{{efn|name="agri"}} Some scholars have suggested that the inequality gap between the Global North and the Global South has been narrowing due to the effects of [[globalization]].<ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last1=Therien |first1=Jean-Philippe |title=Beyond the North–South divide: The two tales of world poverty |journal=Third World Quarterly |date=August 1999 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=723–742 |doi=10.1080/01436599913523 }}</ref> Other scholars have disputed this position, suggesting that the Global South has instead become poorer vis-à-vis the Global North in this same timeframe.<ref name="Hickel2016" /><ref name="Hickel2020" /><ref name="Hickel 2021" />

Since [[World War II]], the phenomenon of "[[South–South cooperation]]" (SSC) to "challenge the political and economic dominance of the North" has become more prominent among the Global South's countries.<ref name=":0a" /><ref name=":0b" /><ref name=":3">{{cite journal |last1=Acharya |first1=Amitav |date=3 July 2016 |title=Studying the Bandung conference from a Global IR perspective |journal=Australian Journal of International Affairs |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=342–357 |doi=10.1080/10357718.2016.1168359 |s2cid=156589520}}</ref> It has become popular in light of the geographical migration of manufacturing and production activity from the Global North to the Global South,<ref name=":3" /> and has since influenced the diplomatic policies of the Global South's more [[Power (international relations)|powerful]] countries, such as [[China]].<ref name=":3" /> Thus, these [[Economic history|contemporary economic trend]]s have "enhanced the historical potential of economic growth and industrialization in the Global South" amidst renewed targeted efforts by the SSC to "loosen the strictures imposed during the colonial era, and transcend the boundaries of postwar political and economic geography" as an aspect of [[decolonization]].<ref name=":4" />

== Definition ==
[[File:Countries by Human Development Index category (2020).png|thumb|World map representing [[Human Development Index]] categories (based on 2019 data, published in 2020)
{| border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:100%;"
|-
| valign="top" |
{{Legend|#003135|0.800–1.000 (very high)}}
{{Legend|#00726a|0.700–0.799 (high)}}
{{Legend|#00bfac|0.550–0.699 (medium)}}
| valign="top" |
{{Legend|#ace8d4|0.350–0.549 (low)}}
{{Legend|#a0a0a0|Data unavailable}}
|}
]]
The terms ''Global North'' and ''Global South'' are not strictly geographical, and are not "an image of the world divided by the equator, separating richer countries from their poorer counterparts."<ref name=":1" /> Rather, geography should be more readily understood as economic and migratory, in the "wider context of globalization or global capitalism."<ref name=":1" />

In general, definitions for Global North and Global South, do not refer to the [[Northern Hemisphere|geographical North]] or the [[Southern Hemisphere|geographical South]].<ref name=":1"/> The Global North broadly comprises [[Northern America]] and [[Europe]], [[Israel]], [[Japan]], [[South Korea]], [[Australia]], and [[New Zealand]], as per the UNCTAD.<ref name="UNCTAD">{{cite web |url=https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/Classifications.html |title=UNCTADstat – Classifications |work=UN Trade and Development |quote=The developing economies broadly comprise Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia without Israel, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, and Oceania without Australia and New Zealand. The developed economies broadly comprise Northern America and Europe, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.}}</ref><ref name="tdstat47"/>{{efn|name=HKSGTW}} The Global South broadly comprises [[Africa]], [[Latin America and the Caribbean]], [[Asia]] excluding Israel, Japan, and South Korea, and [[Oceania]] excluding Australia and New Zealand, also according to the UNCTAD.<ref name="UNCTAD"/><ref name="tdstat47"/>{{efn|name=HKSGTW}} Some, such as Australian sociologists Fran Collyer and [[Raewyn Connell]], have argued that Australia and New Zealand are marginalized in similar ways to other Global South countries, due to their geographical isolation and location in the Southern Hemisphere.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collyer |first1=Fran M. |title=Australia and the Global South: Knowledge and the Ambiguities of Place and Identity |journal=Journal of Historical Sociology |date=March 2021 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=41–54 |doi=10.1111/johs.12312 |s2cid=233625470 }}</ref><ref name="crim">{{cite journal |last1=Moosavi |first1=Leon |title=A Friendly Critique of 'Asian Criminology' and 'Southern Criminology' |journal=The British Journal of Criminology |date=15 February 2019 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=257–275 |doi=10.1093/bjc/azy045 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The term Global North is often used interchangeably with [[Developed country|developed countries]], whereas the term Global South with [[Developing country|developing countries]].<ref name="tdstat47"/>
Characteristically, most countries in the Global South are commonly identified as lacking in their [[standard of living]], these include having: [[Gross national income|lower incomes]], high [[Poverty|levels of poverty]], high [[Population growth#Population growth rate|population growth rates]], limited educational opportunities, [[Health system|deficient health care systems]], among other issues.{{efn|name="charac"}} Also, cities in the Global South are identified for their [[Infrastructure#In the developing world|poor infrastructure]].{{efn|name="infra"}} Economies of the Global North are diversified, whereas the [[agriculture]] sector is the major contributor to economic activity in the Global South.{{efn|In most countries of the Global South, agriculture continues to dominate industry, manufacturing, and services in the formation of the structures of production. For many African countries agriculture constitutes more than 50 percent of the gross domestic product; for Bangladesh (at 30 percent) or Nepal (43 percent) or India (27 percent) it is high, unlike the 2 or 3 percent for the Netherlands, Japan, or Italy, which although possessing strong agricultural production, have diversified economies. Moreover, many developing economies are still highly dependent on the export of primary commodities — food, raw materials, fuels, and base metals — patterns established during the colonial era.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas-Slayter |first1=Barbara P. |title=Southern Exposure: International Development and the Global South in the Twenty-First Century |date=2003 |publisher=Kumarian Press |location=United States |isbn=978-1-56549-174-8 |page=11 }}</ref>|name="agri"}}

== Development of the terms ==
[[Image:High income economies as classified by the World Bank.png|thumb|right|upright=2|{{legend|#064081|Countries described as high-income by the [[World Bank]] in 2023}}]]
[[File:Heads of State Cancun Summit 1981.jpg|thumb|Heads of state and heads of government at the 1981 [[North–South Summit]] in Mexico]]

[[Carl Oglesby]] used the term ''global south'' in 1969, writing in Catholic journal ''[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]]'' in a special issue on the [[Vietnam War]]. Oglesby argued that centuries of northern "dominance over the global south […] [has] converged […] to produce an intolerable social order."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oglesby |first=Carl |year=1969 |title=Vietnamism has failed ... The revolution can only be mauled, not defeated |journal=Commonweal |volume=90}}</ref>

The term gained appeal throughout the second half of the 20th century, which rapidly accelerated in the early 21st century. It appeared in fewer than two dozen publications in 2004, but in hundreds of publications by 2013.<ref name="concept">{{cite web |last1=Pagel |first1=Heikie |last2=Ranke |first2=Karen |last3=Hempel |first3=Fabian |last4=Köhler |first4=Jonas |date=11 July 2014 |title=The Use of the Concept 'Global South' in Social Science & Humanities |url=https://www.academia.edu/7917466 |access-date=2016-10-06 |publisher=[[Humboldt University of Berlin]]}}</ref> The emergence of the new term meant looking at the troubled realities of its predecessors, i.e.: ''Third World'' or ''developing world''. The term ''Global South'', in contrast, was intended to be less hierarchical.<ref name=":1" /> Compared to the alternatives, the term has been deemed useful as it constitutes a lens through which this group of countries keep seeing and narrating their problems in a distinctive way vis-à-vis "developed" countries in Europe, North America and Asia.<ref>Sottilotta, C.E.(2023) A "Battle for Hearts and Minds"? EU Digital Diplomacy towards the Global South, Digital Diplomacy and Statecraft Working Paper n.2, GIGA Hamburg, https://pure.giga-hamburg.de/ws/files/49423351/GIGA_DigitalDiplomacyStatecraft_WP_02_Sottilotta.pdf</ref>

The idea of categorizing countries by their economic and developmental status began during the [[Cold War]] with the classifications of East and West. The [[Soviet Union]] and China represented the East, and the United States and their allies represented the West. The term ''Third World'' came into parlance in the second half of the twentieth century. It originated in a 1952 article by [[Alfred Sauvy]] entitled "{{Lang|fr|Trois Mondes, Une Planète|italic=no}}".<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Tomlinson |first=B.R. |date=April 2003 |title=What was the Third World? |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=307–309 |doi=10.1177/0022009403038002135 |s2cid=162982648}}</ref> Early definitions of the Third World emphasized its exclusion from the east–west conflict of the Cold War as well as the ex-colonial status and poverty of the peoples it comprised.<ref name=":12" />

There have been efforts to mobilize the Third World as a political entity.  The 1955 [[Bandung Conference]] was an early meeting of Third World states in which an alternative to alignment with either the Eastern or Western Blocs was promoted.<ref name=":12" /> Following this, the first [[Non-Aligned Movement|Non-Aligned]] Summit was organized in 1961. Contemporaneously, a [[Dependency theory|mode of economic criticism]] which separated the world economy into "core" and "periphery" was developed and given expression in a project for political reform which "moved the terms 'North' and 'South' into the international political lexicon."<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Dados |first1=Nour |last2=Connell |first2=Raewyn |title=The Global South |journal=Contexts |date=February 2012 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=12–13 |doi=10.1177/1536504212436479 |s2cid=60907088|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1973, the pursuit of a [[New International Economic Order]] which was to be negotiated between the North and South was initiated at the Non-Aligned Summit held in Algiers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cox |first=Robert W. |date=Spring 1979|title=Ideologies and the New International Economic Order: Reflections on Some Recent Literature |journal=International Organization |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=257–302 |jstor=2706612 |doi=10.1017/S0020818300032161 |s2cid=144625611}}</ref> Also in 1973, the oil embargo initiated by Arab OPEC countries as a result of the [[Yom Kippur War]] caused an increase in world oil prices, with prices continuing to rise throughout the decade.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Stettner |first=Walter F. |date=Spring 1982 |title=The Brandt Commission Report: A Critical Appraisal |journal=[[Pi Gamma Mu#Publications|International Social Science Review]] |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=67–81 |jstor=41881303}}</ref> This contributed to a worldwide recession which resulted in industrialized nations increasing economically protectionist policies and contributing less aid to the less developed countries of the South.<ref name=":2" /> The slack was taken up by Western banks, which provided substantial loans to Third World countries.<ref name=Litonjua2012>{{cite journal |last1=Litonjua |first1=M. D. |title=Third World/Global South: From Modernization, to Dependency/Liberation, to Postdevelopment |journal=Journal of Third World Studies |date=22 March 2012 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=25–57 |id={{Gale|A302297493}} |jstor=45194852 |oclc=8512965654}}</ref> However, many of these countries were not able to pay back their debt, which led the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] to extend further loans to them on the condition that they undertake certain liberalizing reforms.<ref name=Litonjua2012/> This policy, which came to be known as [[structural adjustment]], and was institutionalized by [[international financial institutions]] (IFIs) and Western governments, represented a break from the [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] approach to foreign aid which had been the norm from the end of the Second World War.<ref name=Litonjua2012/>

After 1987, reports on the negative social impacts that structural adjustment policies had led IFIs to supplement structural adjustment policies with targeted anti-poverty projects.<ref name=":5" />  Following the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the Soviet Union, some Second World countries joined the First World, and others joined the Third World.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}  A new and simpler classification was needed.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}  Use of the terms "North" and "South" became more widespread.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kassi |first1=Affo Kassi |title=From German Colonialism in the 19th Century to Two Germanies Africa Policies in ACP Context and Beyond |date=27 May 2021 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=978-3-346-41210-2 |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fE4wEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Brandt Line ===
{{Main|Brandt Report}}
[[File:The Brandt Line.png|thumb|The Brandt line, a proposal from the 1980s dividing the world into the developed north and the developing south]]
[[File:Brandt line 2013.png|thumb|Countries' average latitude and [[list of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|GDP per capita]] according to [[The World Factbook]] (2013). The Brandt Line is shown in bold.]]

The Brandt Line is a visual depiction of the north–south divide, proposed by [[West Germany|West German]] former [[Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Willy Brandt]] in the 1980s in the report titled ''North–South: A Programme for Survival'' which was later known as the Brandt Report.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lees |first1=Nicholas |title=The Brandt Line after forty years: The more North–South relations change, the more they stay the same? |journal=Review of International Studies |date=January 2021 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=85–106 |doi=10.1017/S026021052000039X |doi-access=free}}</ref> This line divides the world at a [[latitude]] of approximately [[30th parallel north|30° North]], passing between the United States and Mexico, north of [[Africa]] and the [[Middle East]], climbing north over China and Mongolia, then dipping south to include Japan, Australia, and New Zealand in the "Rich North". As of 2023 the Brandt line has been criticised for being outdated, yet is still regarded as a helpful way to visualise global inequalities.<ref name ="CCreproducitveChoice">{{Cite journal |last1=Dillarstone|first1=Hope  |last2=Brown  |first2=Laura J. |last3=Flores |first3=Elaine C. |date=2023-11-09 |title=Climate change, mental health, and reproductive decision-making: A systematic review |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=2 |issue=11 |article-number=e0000236 |language=en |doi=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000236|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Uses of the term Global South ===
''Global South'' "emerged in part to aid countries in the southern hemisphere to work in collaboration on political, economic, social, environmental, cultural, and technical issues."<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Kevin |last2=Gills |first2=Barry K. |date=2 April 2016 |title=South–South cooperation and the rise of the Global South |journal=[[Third World Quarterly]] |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=557–574 |doi=10.1080/01436597.2015.1128817 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{cite journal |date=March 2013 |title=South-South Cooperation |journal=Appropriate Technology |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=45–48 |id={{ProQuest|1326792037}} }}</ref> This is called [[South–South cooperation]] (SSC), a "political and economical term that refers to the long-term goal of pursuing world economic changes that mutually benefit countries in the Global South and lead to greater solidarity among the disadvantaged in the world system."<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":9" /> The hope is that countries within the Global South will "assist each other in social, political, and economical development, radically altering the world system to reflect their interests and not just the interests of the Global North in the process."<ref name=":4" /> It is guided by the principles of "respect for national [[sovereignty]], national ownership, independence, equality, non-conditionality, non-interference in [[domestic policy|domestic affairs]], and mutual benefit."<ref name=":0a">{{cite web |title=South-South Cooperation |url=http://ssc.undp.org/content/dam/ssc/documents/exhibition_triangular/SSCExPoster1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919154320/http://ssc.undp.org/content/dam/ssc/documents/exhibition_triangular/SSCExPoster1.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-19 |publisher=[[United Nations]] Development Programme}}</ref><ref name=":0b">{{cite web |title=United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation|url=http://ssc.undp.org/content/ssc.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20121203031421/http://ssc.undp.org/content/ssc.html |archive-date=2012-12-03 |publisher=[[United Nations]] Development Programme}}</ref> Countries using this model of South–South cooperation see it as a "mutually beneficial relationship that spreads knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to address their development challenges such as high [[population pressure]], poverty, hunger, disease, [[environmental degradation|environmental deterioration]], conflict and [[natural disaster]]s."<ref name=":0a" /><ref name=":0b" /> These countries also work together to deal with "cross border issues such as environmental protection, [[HIV/AIDS]]",<ref name=":0a" /><ref name=":0b" /> and the movement of capital and labor.<ref name=":0a" /><ref name=":0b" />

Social psychiatrist [[Vincenzo Di Nicola]] has applied the Global South as a bridge between the critiques [[globalization]] and the gaps and limitations of the [[global mental health|Global Mental Health Movement]], invoking [[Boaventura de Sousa Santos]]' notion of "epistemologies of the South" to create a new epistemology for [[social psychiatry]].<ref name="dinicola">{{cite journal |last1=Di Nicola |first1=Vincenzo |title=The Global South: An Emergent Epistemology for Social Psychiatry |journal=World Social Psychiatry |date=January 2020 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=20 |id={{Gale|A641287561}} |doi=10.4103/WSP.WSP_1_20 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Defining development ==
The ''Dictionary of Human Geography'' defines development as "processes of social change or [a change] to class and state projects to transform national economies".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gregory |editor1-first=Derek |editor2-first=Ron |editor2-last=Johnston |editor3-first=Geraldine |editor3-last=Pratt |editor4-first=Michael J. |editor4-last=Watts |editor5-first=Sarah |editor5-last=Whatmore |title=The Dictionary of Human Geography |edition=5th |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |date=2009}}</ref>

[[Economic development]] is a measure of progress in a specific economy. It refers to advancements in technology, a transition from an economy based largely on agriculture to one based on industry and an improvement in living standards.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/economic-development.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715113233/http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/economic-development.html |archive-date=2017-07-15 |title=Economic Development}}</ref>

Being categorized as part of the "North" implies development as opposed to belonging to the "South", which implies a lack thereof. According to N. Oluwafemi Mimiko, the South lacks the right technology, it is politically unstable, its economies are divided, and its foreign exchange earnings depend on primary product exports to the North, along with the fluctuation of prices. The low level of control it exercises over imports and exports condemns the South to conform to the 'imperialist' system. The South's lack of development and the high level of development of the North deepen the inequality between them and leave the South a source of raw material for the developed countries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mimiko |first1=Nahzeem Oluwafemi |title=Globalization: The Politics of Global Economic Relations and International Business |date=2012 |publisher=Carolina Academic Press |isbn=978-1-61163-129-6 |page=22}}</ref><ref name="Mimiko 2012 47"/> The North becomes synonymous with economic development and industrialization while the South represents the previously colonized countries which are in need of help in the form of international aid agendas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Preece |first1=Julia |title=Lifelong learning and development: a perspective from the 'South' |journal=Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education |date=September 2009 |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=585–599 |doi=10.1080/03057920903125602 |s2cid=145584841}}</ref>

Furthermore, in ''Regionalism Across the North–South Divide: State Strategies and Globalization,'' Jean Grugel stated that the three factors that direct the economic development of states in the Global south are "élite behaviour within and between nation states, integration and cooperation within 'geographic' areas, and the resulting position of states and regions within the global world market and related political economic hierarchy."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzrpLqljGWYC&q=north+south+divide&pg=PR7 |title=Regionalism Across the North–South Divide: State Strategies and Globalization| last1=Grugel |first1=Jean |last2=Hout |first2=Wil |date=1999-01-01 |publisher=[[Psychology Press]] |isbn=978-0-415-16212-8 |language=en |access-date=2020-08-30 |archive-date=2020-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920194716/https://books.google.com/books?id=DzrpLqljGWYC&pg=PR7&dq=north+south+divide |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

== Theories explaining the divide ==
The development disparity between the North and the South has sometimes been explained in historical terms. Dependency theory looks back on the patterns of colonial relations which persisted between the North and South and emphasizes how colonized territories tended to be impoverished by those relations.<ref name=Litonjua2012/> Theorists of this school maintain that the economies of ex-colonial states remain oriented towards serving external rather than internal demand, and that development regimes undertaken in this context have tended to reproduce in underdeveloped countries the pronounced class hierarchies found in industrialized countries while maintaining higher levels of poverty.<ref name=Litonjua2012/> Dependency theory is closely intertwined with Latin American Structuralism, the only school of [[development economics]] emerging from the Global South to be affiliated with a national research institute and to receive support from national banks and finance ministries.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Love |first=Joseph Leroy |date=2005 |title=The Rise and Decline of Economic Structuralism in Latin America: New Dimensions |journal=[[Latin American Research Review]] |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=100–125 |jstor=3662824 |doi=10.1353/lar.2005.0058 |s2cid=143132205}}</ref> The Structuralists defined dependency as the inability of a nation's economy to complete the cycle of [[capital accumulation]] without reliance on an outside economy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Caporaso |first=James A. |date=1980 |title=Dependency Theory: Continuities and Discontinuities in Development Studies |journal=International Organization |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=605–628 |doi=10.1017/S0020818300018865 |s2cid=153535159}}</ref> More specifically, peripheral nations were perceived as primary resource exporters reliant on core economies for manufactured goods.<ref name=":6" /> This led structuralists to advocate for [[Import substitution industrialization|import-substitution industrialization]] policies which aimed to replace manufactured imports with domestically made products.<ref name=":02" />

[[Economic geography|New Economic Geography]] explains development disparities in terms of the physical organization of industry, arguing that firms tend to cluster in order to benefit from [[economies of scale]] and increase productivity which leads ultimately to an increase in wages.<ref name=":7" /> The North has more firm clustering than the South, making its industries more competitive. It is argued that only when wages in the North reach a certain height, will it become more profitable for firms to operate in the South, allowing clustering to begin.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

=== Associated theories ===
The term of the Global South has many researched theories associated with it. Since many of the countries that are considered to be a part of the Global South were once [[Colonization|colonized]] by Global North countries, they are at a disadvantage to become as quickly developed. [[Dependency theory|Dependency theorists]] suggest that information has a [[Top-down and bottom-up design|top-down]] approach and first goes to the Global North before countries in the Global South receive it. Although many of these countries rely on political or economic help, this also opens up opportunity for information to develop Western bias and create an academic dependency.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ruvituso |first1=Clara I. |date=January 2020 |title=From the South to the North: The circulation of Latin American dependency theories in the Federal Republic of Germany |journal=[[Current Sociology]] |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=22–40 |doi=10.1177/0011392119885170 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Meneleo Litonjua describes the reasoning behind distinctive problems of dependency theory as "the basic context of poverty and [[underdevelopment]] of Third World/Global South countries was not their traditionalism, but the dominance-dependence relationship between rich and poor, powerful and weak counties."<ref name=Litonjua2012/>

What brought about much of the dependency, was the push to become modernized. After World War II, the U.S. made effort to assist developing countries financially in attempt to pull them out of poverty.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 June 2014 |title=America's Proud History of Post-War Aid – Foreign assistance after World War II proved critical to U.S. interests. |url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2014/06/06/the-lessons-from-us-aid-after-world-war-ii |access-date=23 September 2020 |website=US News}}</ref> [[Modernization theory]] "sought to remake the Global South in the image and likeliness of the First World/Global North."<ref name=Litonjua2012/> In other terms, "societies can be fast-tracked to modernization by 'importing' Western technical capital, forms of organization, and science and technology to developing countries." With this ideology, as long as countries follow in Western ways, they can develop quicker.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.85020-5 |chapter=Science and Development |title=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences |date=2015 |last1=Ynalvez |first1=Marcus A. |last2=Shrum |first2=Wesley M. |pages=150–155 |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5 |quote=In other words, societies can be fast-tracked to modernization by 'importing' Western technical capital, forms of organization, and science and technology to developing countries.}}</ref>

After modernization attempts took place, theorists started to question the effects through post-development perspectives. [[Postdevelopment theory|Postdevelopment]] theorists try to explain that not all developing countries need to be following Western ways but instead should create their own development plans. This means that "societies at the local level should be allowed to pursue their own development path as they perceive it without the influences of global capital and other modern choices, and thus a rejection of the entire paradigm from Eurocentric model and the advocation of new ways of thinking about the non-Western societies."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Olatunji |first1=Felix O. |last2=Bature |first2=Anthony I. |title=The Inadequacy of Post-Development Theory to the Discourse of Development and Social Order in the Global South |journal=[[Social Evolution & History]] |date=September 2019 |volume=18 |issue=2 |doi=10.30884/seh/2019.02.12 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The goals of postdevelopment was to reject development rather than reform by choosing to embrace non-Western ways.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.39 |chapter=Postdevelopment Theory |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies |year=2010 |last1=Matthews |first1=Sally J. |isbn=978-0-19-084662-6}}</ref>

== Challenges ==
[[File:IMF advanced economies and UN least developed countries 2025.svg|thumb|{{legend|#00b9fa|[[Developed country|Developed countries or territories]] ([[International Monetary Fund|IMF]])}}
{{legend|#ffb219|[[Developing country|Developing countries or territories]] (IMF)}}
{{legend|#ff562f|[[Least developed countries]] (UN)}}
{{legend|#b9b9b9|Data unavailable}}<br />World map showing country classifications per the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]]<ref name="IMF1">{{cite web |title=World Economic and Financial Surveys World Economic Outlook Database—WEO Groups and Aggregates Information |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2022/01/weodata/groups.htm |publisher=International Monetary Fund |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303145301/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2022/01/weodata/groups.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[United Nations|UN]]<ref>[https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/ldc_list.pdf Least Developed Countries] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517090756/http://www.unohrlls.org/en/ldc/related/62/ |date=17 May 2011 }}) ({{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190214143027/http://unohrlls.org/custom-content/uploads/2018/12/list-of-least-developed-countries-rev1.pdf 2018 list]}}; )</ref> (last updated April 2023)]]
The accuracy of the North–South divide has been challenged on a number of grounds. Firstly, differences in the political, economic and demographic make-up of countries tend to complicate the idea of a monolithic South.<ref name=":12" /> [[Globalization]] has also challenged the notion of two distinct economic spheres. Following the liberalization of post-Mao [[China]] initiated in 1978, growing regional cooperation between the national economies of [[Asia]] has led to the growing decentralization of the North as the main economic power.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Golub |first1=Philip S |title=From the New International Economic Order to the G20: how the 'global South' is restructuring world capitalism from within |journal=[[Third World Quarterly]] |date=July 2013 |volume=34 |issue=6 |pages=1000–1015 |doi=10.1080/01436597.2013.802505 |s2cid=54170990}}</ref> The economic status of the South has also been fractured. As of 2015, all but roughly the bottom 60 nations of the Global South were thought to be gaining on the North in terms of income, diversification, and participation in the world market.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Collier |first1=Paul |title=Development economics in retrospect and prospect |journal=Oxford Review of Economic Policy |date=2015 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=242–258 |doi=10.1093/oxrep/grv013 |hdl=10.1093/oxrep/grv013 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

However, other scholars, notably [[Jason Hickel]] and [[Robert Wade (scholar)|Robert Wade]] have suggested that the Global South is not rising economically, and that global inequality between the North and South has risen since globalization.<ref name="Wade 2004 pp. 381–414">{{cite journal |last1=Wade |first1=Robert Hunter |title=Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality? |journal=International Journal of Health Services |date=2004 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=381–414 |doi=10.2190/G8F1-01FL-MEDW-JVG1 |jstor=45132218 |pmid=15346677 |s2cid=11952897 }}</ref><ref name="Hickel2016">{{cite web | last=Hickel | first=Jason | title=Global inequality may be much worse than we think | website=the Guardian | date=2016-04-08 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/apr/08/global-inequality-may-be-much-worse-than-we-think | access-date=2023-11-06}}</ref> Using a model which assumes that land, labor and resources located in the Global South should have the same dollar cost as similar resources in the Global North, Hickel has suggested that the exchange of trade resources between the South and the North is substantially unbalanced, with Global North countries extracting about 10–11 trillion dollars from the Global South in 2015.  Hinkel compares this amount of financial aid given to Global South by a factor of 30.<ref name="Hickel 2021">{{cite journal |last1=Hickel |first1=Jason |last2=Sullivan |first2=Dylan |last3=Zoomkawala |first3=Huzaifa |title=Plunder in the Post-Colonial Era: Quantifying Drain from the Global South Through Unequal Exchange, 1960–2018 |journal=New Political Economy |date=2 November 2021 |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=1030–1047 |doi=10.1080/13563467.2021.1899153 |s2cid=233600773 }}</ref><ref name="Hickel2020">{{cite journal |last1=Hickel |first1=Jason |last2=Dorninger |first2=Christian |last3=Wieland |first3=Hanspeter |last4=Suwandi |first4=Intan |title=Imperialist appropriation in the world economy: Drain from the global South through unequal exchange, 1990–2015 |journal=Global Environmental Change |date=March 2022 |volume=73 |article-number=102467 |doi=10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102467 |bibcode=2022GEC....7302467H |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Globalization has largely displaced the North–South divide as the theoretical underpinning of the development efforts of international institutions such as the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]], [[World Bank]], [[World Trade Organization|WTO]], and various [[United Nations]] affiliated agencies, though these groups differ in their perceptions of the relationship between globalization and inequality.<ref name=":5" /> Yet some remain critical of the accuracy of globalization as a model of the world economy, emphasizing the enduring centrality of nation-states in world politics and the prominence of regional trade relations.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Herath |first=Dhammika |date=2008 |title=Development Discourse of the Globalists and Dependency Theorists: Do the Globalisation Theorists Rephrase and Reword the Central Concepts of the Dependency School? |journal=[[Third World Quarterly]] |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=819–834 |doi=10.1080/01436590802052961 |s2cid=145570046}}</ref> Lately, there have been efforts to integrate the Global South more meaningfully into the world economic order.<ref>{{cite news |author=Pathi |first=Krutika |date=August 27, 2023 |title=Modi says India as G20 host will be inclusive and invites African Union to become permanent members |url=https://candorium.com/news/20230827093035339/modi-says-india-as-g-host-will-be-inclusive-and-invites-african-union-to-become-permanent-members |work=candorium.com}}</ref>

=== Debates over the term ===
With its development, many scholars preferred using ''Global South'' over its predecessors, such as [[developing country|''developing countries'']] and ''[[Third World]]''. Leigh Anne Duck, co-editor of [[Global South Development Magazine|''Global South'']], argued that the term is better suited at resisting "hegemonic forces that threaten the autonomy and development of these countries."<ref>{{cite web |date=2016-09-04 |title=Introduction: Concepts of the Global South {{!}} GSSC |url=http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/451 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904205139/http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/451 |archive-date=2016-09-04 |access-date=2019-02-27}}</ref> The Global South–Global North distinction has been preferred to the older developed–developing dichotomy as it does not imply a hierarchy.<ref name ="CCreproducitveChoice"/> Alvaro Mendez, co-founder of the [[London School of Economics and Political Science]]'s Global South Unit, have applauded the empowering aspects of the term. In an article, ''Discussion on Global South,'' Mendez discusses emerging economies in nations like China, India, Mexico and Brazil. It is predicted that by 2030, 80% of the world's [[middle-class]] population will be living in developing countries.<ref>{{cite web |date=2016-10-26 |title=Discussion on the Global South {{!}} GSSC |url=http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/469 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026085516/http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/469 |archive-date=2016-10-26 |access-date=2019-02-27}}</ref> The popularity of the term "marks a shift from a central focus on development and cultural difference" and recognizes the importance of geopolitical relations.<ref name="Dados">{{cite journal |last1=Dados |first1=Nour |last2=Connell |first2=Raewyn |title=The Global South |journal=Contexts |date=February 2012 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=12–13 |doi=10.1177/1536504212436479 |jstor=41960738 |s2cid=60907088 }}</ref>

Critics of this usage often argue that it is a vague [[blanket term]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Eriksen |first=Thomas Hylland |author-link=Thomas Hylland Eriksen |date=January 2015 |title=What's wrong with the Global North and the Global South? |url=http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/454|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009141000/http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/454 |archive-date=2016-10-09 |access-date=2016-10-06 |publisher=Global South Studies Center}}</ref> Others have argued that the term, its usage, and its subsequent consequences mainly benefit those from the upper classes of countries within the Global South;<ref name=":1" /> who stand "to profit from the political and economic reality [of] expanding south-south relations."<ref name=":1" />

According to scholar Anne Garland Mahler, this nation-based understanding of the Global South is regarded as an appropriation of a concept that has deeper roots in Cold War radical political thought.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahler |first=Anne Garland |title=From the Tricontinental to the Global South: Race, Radicalism, and Transnational Solidarity |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |year=2018 |location=Durham}}</ref> In this political usage, the Global South is employed in a more geographically fluid way, referring to "spaces and peoples negatively impacted by contemporary capitalist globalization."<ref name=":10">Mahler, Anne Garland. "Global South." ''Oxford Bibliographies in Literary and Critical Theory, ed. Eugene O'Brien.'' Oxford 2017; Mahler, Anne Garland. "Global South." ''Global South Studies'' 2017: https://globalsouthstudies.as.virginia.edu/what-is-global-south</ref> In other words, "there are economic Souths in the geographic North and Norths in the geographic South."<ref name=":10" /> Through this geographically fluid definition, another meaning is attributed to the Global South where it refers to a global political community that is formed when the world's "Souths" recognize one another and view their conditions as shared.<ref>López, Alfred J., ed. 2007. ''The Global South'' 1 (1).</ref>

The geographical boundaries of the Global South remain a source of debate. Some scholars agree that the term is not a "static concept".<ref name=":1" /> Others have argued against "grouping together a large variety of countries and regions into one category [because it] tends to obscure specific (historical) relationships between different countries and/or regions", and the power imbalances within these relationships.<ref name=":1" /> This "may obscure wealth differences within countries – and, therefore, similarities between the wealthy in the Global South and Global North, as well as the dire situation the poor may face all around the world."<ref name=":1" />

'''Structural and epistemic power imbalances'''

In addition to economic disparities, critics have highlighted how the Global North maintains structural power over international systems of governance, knowledge, and climate policy. Global institutions such as the IMF and World Bank are often dominated by Northern interests, which can limit the decision-making power and autonomy of Global South nations. Scholars from feminist and decolonial traditions argue that this imbalance extends into the realm of knowledge production, where theories, research, and policies from the Global North are privileged as "universal", while perspectives from the Global South are frequently marginalized. This phenomenon, known as epistemic injustice, reproduces colonial patterns of whose voices count in defining development and progress. Similarly, in climate governance, countries in the Global South disproportionately suffer the consequences of environmental damage driven by the industrial history of the Global North—a situation referred to as climate colonialism.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}

== Future development ==
{{See also|Post-Western era}}
Some economists have argued that international [[free trade]] and unhindered [[Capital (economics)|capital]] flows across countries could lead to a contraction in the North–South divide. In this case more equal trade and flow of capital would allow the possibility for developing countries to further develop economically.<ref name="Reuveny">{{cite journal |last1=Reuveny |first1=Rafael X. |last2=Thompson |first2=William R. |date=2007 |title=The North–South Divide and International Studies: A Symposium |journal=[[International Studies Review]] |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=556–564 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2486.2007.00722.x |jstor=4621859}}</ref> Economists such as Martin Khor challenged these arguments by illustrating how the South's lack of economic capacity and infrastructure limit the movement to reduce the divide.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Research Papers |date=2022 |doi=10.18356/56a69aa5-en |issn=2708-2814}}</ref>

As some countries in the South experience rapid development, there is evidence that those states are developing high levels of South–South aid.<ref name="ODI1">Cabral and Weinstock 2010. [http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=5120&title=brazil-election-emerging-donor-aid Brazil: an emerging aid player] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322000016/http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=5120&title=brazil-election-emerging-donor-aid |date=2012-03-22 }}. London: [[Overseas Development Institute]]</ref> Brazil, in particular, has been noted for its high levels of aid ($1 billion annually—ahead of many traditional – but much smaller – donors) and the ability to use its own experiences to provide high levels of expertise and knowledge transfer.<ref name="ODI1" /> This has been described as a "global model in waiting".<ref name="blogs.odi.org.uk">Cabral, Lidia 2010. [http://blogs.odi.org.uk/blogs/main/archive/2010/07/22/brazil_south_south_cooperation.aspx Brazil's development cooperation with the South: a global model in waiting] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430190841/http://blogs.odi.org.uk/blogs/main/archive/2010/07/22/brazil_south_south_cooperation.aspx |date=2011-04-30 }}. London: [[Overseas Development Institute]]</ref>

The [[United Nations]] has also established its role in diminishing the divide between North and South through the [[Millennium Development Goals]], all of which were to be achieved by 2015. These goals seek to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve global universal education and healthcare, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat [[HIV/AIDS]], [[malaria]], and other diseases, ensure [[environmental sustainability]], and develop a global partnership for development.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/|title=United Nations Millennium Development Goals |website=www.un.org |access-date=2017-06-29 |archive-date=2020-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224151900/https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These were replaced in 2015 by 17 [[Sustainable Development Goals]] (SDGs). The SDGs, set in 2015 by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] and intended to be achieved by 2030, are part of a [[United Nations General Assembly resolution|UN Resolution]] called "[[2030 Agenda|The 2030 Agenda]]".<ref>United Nations (2015) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, [[:File:N1529189.pdf|Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development]] ([https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ A/RES/70/1])</ref>

== Society and culture ==
=== Digital and technological divide ===
The [[global digital divide]] is often characterized as corresponding to the north–south divide;<ref>{{cite web |title=The Global Digital Divide {{!}} Cultural Anthropology |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/the-global-digital-divide/#:~:text=The%20global%20digital%20divide%20also,and%20services%20available%20through%20technology.&text=This%20global%20divide%20is%20often,and%20%E2%80%9Csouthern%E2%80%9D%20poorer%20ones. |access-date=2021-04-19 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com |language=en-US}}</ref> however, [[Internet]] use, and especially [[broadband]] access, is now soaring in Asia compared with other continents. This phenomenon is partially explained by the ability of many countries in Asia to [[leapfrogging|leapfrog]] older Internet technology and infrastructure, coupled with booming economies which allow vastly more people to get online.<ref>{{cite web |title=Internet penetration in Asia-Pacific 2019 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/265153/number-of-internet-users-in-the-asia-pacific-region/ |access-date=2021-04-19 |website=Statista |language=en}}</ref>

=== Media representation ===
[[Mass media]] has often compared the Global South to the North, and is thought to be an aid in the divide. Western media tends to present a generalized view of developing countries through biased [[Media bias|media coverage]], mass media outlets tend to focus disproportionately on [[poverty]] and other negative imagery. This common coverage has created a dominant stereotype of developing countries as: "the '[[Global South|South]]' is characterized by [[Socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] and political backwardness, measured against Western values and standards."<ref>{{cite web|title=Dependency Theory: A Useful Tool for Analyzing Global Inequalities Today?|url=https://www.e-ir.info/2016/11/23/dependency-theory-a-useful-tool-for-analyzing-global-inequalities-today/|access-date=2020-02-21|website=E-International Relations|date=23 November 2016|language=en-US|archive-date=2 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002023728/https://www.e-ir.info/2016/11/23/dependency-theory-a-useful-tool-for-analyzing-global-inequalities-today/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mass media has also played a role in what information the people in developing countries receive. The news often covers developed countries and creates an imbalance of information flow.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Philo |first1=Greg |title=An unseen world: How the media portrays the poor |journal=The UNESCO Courier |date=November 2001 |volume=54 |issue=11 |pages=44–46 |id={{ProQuest|207594362}} |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000124294.locale=en |access-date=16 July 2022 |archive-date=16 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716164506/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000124294.locale=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Political representation ==
{{Expand section|date=July 2025}}

=== India ===
[[Prime Minister of India|Prime Minister]] [[Narendra Modi]], speaking at the [[17th BRICS summit|17th BRICS Summit]] in July 2025, emphasized that two-thirds of humanity from the Global South remain underrepresented in 20th-century global institutions, calling for urgent reforms to bodies such as the [[United Nations Security Council]], the [[World Trade Organization]], and Multilateral Development Banks. He affirmed that under India's [[18th BRICS summit|2026 BRICS presidency]], the concerns of the Global South would be a central priority, reflecting a people-centric and inclusive vision for global governance.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bhattacherjee |first=Kallol |date=2025-07-07 |title=India will give a 'new form' to BRICS grouping in 2026: PM Modi |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-will-give-a-new-form-to-brics-grouping-in-2026-pm-modi/article69784800.ece |access-date=2025-07-10 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-07 |title=BRICS leaders condemn April 22 Pahalgam attack: On terror, zero tolerance |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/brics-leaders-condemn-jk-pahalgam-attack-on-terror-zero-tolerance-10110505/ |access-date=2025-07-10 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[BRICS]], [[CIVETS]], [[MINT (economics)|MINT]], VISTA
* [[East–West dichotomy]]
* [[First World]]
* [[Fourth World]]
* [[Global East]]
* [[Global majority]], roughly corresponding to Global South peoples
* [[Global West]]
* [[Golden billion]]
* [[Group of 77]]
* [[Inglehart–Welzel cultural map of the world]]
* [[International Solar Alliance]]
* [[Non-Aligned Movement]]
* [[North–South Centre]], an institution of the Council of Europe, awarding the [[North–South Prize]]
* [[North–South model]], in economics theory
* [[North–South Summit]], the only North–South [[Summit (meeting)|summit]] ever held, with 22 heads of state and government taking part
* [[Northern and southern China]]
* [[Three-world model]]
* [[World-systems theory]]

=== Subregions of Global North ===
* [[Arctic Circle]]
* [[Global Northwest]]
* [[North Atlantic]]
** [[NATO]]
* [[North Pacific]]

=== Subregions of Global South ===
* [[Afro-Asia]]
** [[Global Southeast]]
*** [[ASEAN]] (or geographically [[Southeast Asia]])

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|Global South}}
{{Commons category}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070515171820/http://www.stwr.net/content/view/43/83/ Share The World's Resources: The Brandt Commission Report], a 1980 report by a commission led by [[Willy Brandt]] that popularized the terminology
* [http://www.brandt21forum.info/ Brandt 21 Forum], a recreation of the original commission with an updated report (information on original commission at site)

{{South-South}}
{{Globalization|state=autocollapse}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Global North and Global South|*]]
[[Category:Demographics]]
[[Category:Dichotomies]]
[[Category:Economic country classifications]]
[[Category:Economic globalization]]
[[Category:Imperialism studies]]
[[Category:Geographical neologisms]]
[[Category:Population geography]]
[[Category:1960s neologisms]]
[[Category:Economic geography]]