that's a bit of a weird hangup to have and the difficulty progression actually is waaay different than you indicate, as it's definitely not intended to finish a world before going to the next one
1-1 is the easiest > 1-2;2-1;5-1 are about equal > 3-1;4-1 about equal > 2-2;3-2 > 2-3 > 1-3;4-2;5-2 > 3-3;4-3;5-3 > 1-4 is what I'd say is the difficulty progression