The Least Developed Countries Report 2021
Recently the Least-Developed Countries Report 2021 has been released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Least Developed Countries: LDCs are low income countries. These countries are facing serious structural impediments in terms of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Also, these countries are highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and have low levels of human assets.
It is noteworthy that the list of LDCs was first prepared in the year 1971 (50 years ago). The list is reviewed by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) every three years.
The CDP is a group of independent experts that reports to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).
This list is reviewed on the basis of income, Human Assets Index (HAI) and Economic and Environmental Vulnerability Index.
Key findings of this report:
- 48 countries are designated as LDCs.
- The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita for the LDCs group in 2019 was less than 10% of the global average.
- Trade and industrial policies have not been fully utilized to drive economic growth in LDCs.
- Due to the health, economic and social crises generated during the COVID-19 global pandemic, the economic growth rate in LCDS in the year 2020 was the lowest in the last three decades.
- These countries (namely LDCs) require massive investment and expenditure to easily achieve the Sustainable Development Goals presented by the United Nations. Whereas, their financial resources are very less for such investments and expenditure.
Source – The Hindu
