Tina Hastings, age 16, of Gulfport, Miss., for her question:

WHAT ARE THE THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES?

Third World countries are those nations 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 opposed to the spread of communism became known as the Free World.

Many nations could not be classified in either the first two groups. These nonaligned nations became members of the Third World. Included in this group are such nations as India, Peru and most of the African countries.