Can I ask for clarification, are they? Former British colonies include countries like India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, which are not usually considered first world countries.

hi! there was an interesting thread on this topic a couple of weeks ago; check it out

• Why did the areas that Britain colonised in which the native population was largely eradicated end up as some of the most prosperous countries on Earth outside of Europe (Canada/USA/Australia), whilst similar areas colonised by Spain and Portugal fared worse by comparison (Brazil/Mexico/Colombia)?

Note that it includes links to a handful of earlier threads; if you have followup questions on locked threads, ask them here & include the user's username so they'll be auto-notified