The Least Developed Countries Conference takes place every ten years and the 2023 meeting will be from March 5-9. Call LDC5 (for its acronym in English), the meeting will focus on placing again the needs of the 46 countries classified in that category among the priorities of the world agenda and supporting them in their struggle to return to the path of sustainable development.
A boy from the village of Bikenibeu in South Tarawa, Kiribati.
1. What is a least developed country?
The Least Developed Countries are countries identified by the United Nations with the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development. All have a per capita gross national income of less than $1,018; in contrast to nearly 71,000 in the United States, 44,000 in France, 9,900 in Turkey and 6,530 in South Africa, according to data of the world Bank.
These countries also have low scores on indicators of nutrition, health, school enrollment, and literacy, and have high levels of economic and environmental vulnerability, an index that measures factors such as distance, reliance on agriculture, and exposure to natural disasters.
There are currently 46 Least Developed Countries, the vast majority of them in Africa. The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) updates the list every three years. Between 1994 and 2020, six nations left the list.
A five-month-old girl at Paktia Rrgional hospital in Gardez, Afghanistan, receives therapeutic milk to treat malnutrition.
2. What are the challenges facing the Least Developed Countries?
The 46 Least Developed Countries are home to around 1.1 billion people, 14% of the world’s population. More than 75% of that population lives in poverty.
More than other countries, the Least Developed are at risk of being poorer and stagnating in this situation of underdevelopment. They are also vulnerable to external economic crises, natural disasters and those caused by human activity, contagious diseases and climate change.
The planet is currently on track to warm 2.7°C this century, which would devastate the Least Developed Countries. Those nations are the ones that have produced the least carbon emissions and yet are the ones that face the greatest risks from climate change.
In addition, they are among those most affected by COVID-19; only eight of them did not experience negative growth rates in 2020 and the fallout from the pandemic is expected to last longer than in the richest countries.
Debt is a major problem for all of these countries: four are classified as insolvent (Mozambique, Sao Tomas and Principe, Somalia, and Sudan) and 16 more are at high risk of becoming so.
As such, the Least Developed Countries require the highest level of attention from the international community.
A boy holds a tray of lobsters at a camp for displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
3. How can the United Nations and the international community support the Least Developed Countries?
The efforts of the UN system to reverse the increasing marginalization of the Least Developed Countries from the world economy and put them on a path towards sustainable growth and development date back to the 1960s.
Since then, the UN has paid special attention to them, recognizing them as the most vulnerable in the world and granting them certain benefits, including:
- development financing: grants and loans from donors and financial institutions
- multilateral trading system: preferential market access and special treaties
- Technical assistance: mainly to support trade.
The first conference of these countries was held in 1981 in Paris, a city that was also going to host the LDC5, which would have commemorated its 50th anniversary in 2002, but COVID-19 forced its postponement to this year.
4. What is the Doha Agenda for Action?
The Doha Program of Action is the road map towards the development of the Least Developed Countries and was agreed in March 2022 in the Qatari capital.
The Program focuses on six areas
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- Eradicate poverty and build capacities
- Harnessing science, technology and innovation to fight vulnerabilities and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
- Support structural transformation as a driver of prosperity
- Enhance international trade of LDCs and regional integration
- Coping with climate change, environmental degradation and recovery from the pandemic, and building resilience to future shocks
- Mobilize international solidarity and revitalize global partnerships
The full implementation of the Doha Agenda for Action will help the Least Developed Countries cope with the socio-economic impact of the pandemic and enable them to get back on track towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including combating climate change.
Haiti is the only nation in the Americas classified as a least developed country.
5. What can we expect from the LDC5?
The United Nations, Least Developed Countries, Heads of State and Government, development partners, the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians and youth will come together to agree on alliances, commitments, innovations and plans in an effort for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
He General secretary of the UN, which will participate in the conclave, has highlighted the importance of supporting the Least Developed Countries.
“The Doha Agenda for Action reminds us that global recovery depends on the Least Developed Countries receiving the support they need. They need bold investments in health, education and social protection systems, all the resources needed to implement the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
The first step towards these Goals will be to meet certain targets that will allow them to move out of the category of least developed countries.
Six countries have ceased to be so: Botswana (in 1994), Cape Verde (in 2007), Maldives (in 2011), Samoa (in 2014), Equatorial Guinea (in 2017) and Vanuatu (in 2020).
The civil war that has raged in Yemen since 2014 has brought death, destruction, poverty and mass displacement.
List of Least Developed Countries:
The following 46 countries were listed by the UN in March 2023 as Least Developed:
- Africa (33): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania , Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.
- Asia (9): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, East Timor and Yemen.
- Caribbean (1): Haiti
- Peaceful (3): Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu
