Elizabeth Stalnaker, age 13, of Tornado, West Va., for her question:

WHAT ARE THE THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES?

Third World countries are those nations which are grouped together because they are neutral or nonaligned in world politics.

When World War II ended, Russia and other Communist countries quickly became known as the Communist World. At the same time, the United States and other countries that opposed the spread of Communism became known as the Free World

Many nations could not be classified in either of the first two groups. Included were Switzerland, India and most of the African countries. 'These nonaligned became members of the Third World.