The Short Version
Within the widely used World-Systems Theory framework, "peripheral countries" are consistently defined as less developed, less industrialized, and economically dependent on core nations — making the claim accurate as a descriptive statement. Multiple authoritative academic and educational sources confirm this characterization. The qualifier "typically" appropriately hedges the assertion. However, the claim omits that this is a theoretical classification, not a universally accepted empirical one, and that the core-periphery distinction is increasingly contested as some formerly peripheral nations have industrialized.