Enlightened Engagement

What are the Least Developed Countries?

Since 1971, the United Nations has denominated “Least Developed Countries” (LDCs) a category of lowincome States that are deemed structurally disadvantaged in their development process, and facing more than other countries the risk of failing to come out of poverty. As such, LDCs are considered in need of the highest
degree of attention on the part of the international community.
At the time of the 2003 review of the list of LDCs by the UN, the following three criteria were used:
• low income, based on a three-year average estimate of the gross national income per capita (under $750 for cases of addition to the list, above $900 for cases of graduation);
• weak human assets, in the light of a composite Human Assets Index (HAI) based on indicators of: (a) nutrition; (b) health; (c) school enrolment; and (d) adult literacy;
• economic vulnerability, in the light of a composite Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) based on indicators of: (a) instability of agricultural production; (b) instability of exports of goods and services; (c) diversification from traditional economic activities; (d) merchandise export concentration; and (e) economic smallness.

A country qualified to be added to the list of LDCs if it met the above three criteria and did not have a population over 75 million.

An LDC was considered as qualifying for graduation from LDC status if it met
graduation thresholds under at least two of the three criteria in at least two consecutive reviews of the list.
Recognition by the UN of the particular problems faced by the LDCs brought the development partners of these countries, including UN agencies and programmes, to adopt a range of special international support measures in their favour, essentially to support the development of their physical infrastructure and human resources; reduce their competitive disadvantage in the global economy; and enhance their institutional capacities.
Accordingly, there is LDC-specific treatment in the multilateral trading system (notably, through market access preferences); in the field of development financing; and in the area of technical assistance.

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