| abstract | - The term first world problems (often abbreviated to "FWP") refers to issues perceived as difficult to those residing in the more developed nations (i.e., the First World), but which are banal when compared to the difficulties encountered by those in the less developed Third World. First World Problems is often used in a derisive manner towards those who complain about the problems they experience in the "First World" on a regular basis. However, it is also used by scholars and economists in studying the relationship between the Third World and the First World. The exact provenance of this term is uncertain, although some believe that it originated with the 1995 song "Omissions of the Omen" on the album Last of the Ghetto Astronauts by Canadian singer/song-writer Matthew Good. Over time, however, it has taken on a wider significance[citation needed] , being used in humour. A Wall Street Journal article described terrorism, viruses, and natural disasters as "increasingly tough First World Problems." Similarly, economists working in South Africa have described that country's "science and technology infrastructure as 'a first world system being used to tackle first world problems'" and which are therefore unable to cope with the more serious problems of that nation's population. It is also argued that in nations like China, where there is a great divergence between first and third world areas, that the "First World Problems overshadowed the Third World ones." In something of an about-face from the standard attack on First World Problems, development communication scholar Srinivas Melkote insists that "development communication activities" developed to address Third World Problems can in fact be utilized to combat "First World [P]roblems that have arisen after development" (such as AIDS and teenage pregnancies).
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