Some fascinating parallels between the global north and the global south
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May 26, 2026
Surprisingly, both development blocks have certain parallels. I have found some of them to be striking. These reveal that between countries labeled as "developed"
and "developing", there are still varying degrees. Not all countries belonging to the same development bloc are equal. Let me clarify that I will take the definition of both "Global North" and "Global South" from this entry.
These include:
- Base continent where most of the bloc is located
- Global North: Europe
- Global South: Africa
- A defining race
- Global North: White people
- Global South: Black people
- Large country in the Americas
- Global North: United States of America
- Global South: Brazil
- And their colder neighbor
- Global North: Canada
- Global South: Argentina
- Landlocked country in the extremes of their respective bloc
- Global North: Switzerland
- Global South: Central African Republic
- Country with a large coastline strongly associated with the bloc
- Global North: Norway
- Global South: Somalia
- A country known for food
- Global North: Italy
- Global South: Mexico
- An island country in the base continent that doesn't quite feel they belong there
- Global North: United Kingdom
- Global South: Madagascar
- A quirky absolute monarchy
- Global North: Liechtenstein
- Global South: eSwatini
- A country historically known for trade
- Global North: Netherlands
- Global South: Tanzania
These parallels might have come across as unexpected to some! They allow us to see what kind of hierarchies the world has.