Least Developed Countries: The list is getting smaller

The 2018 triennial review of the least developed country (LDC) category emerged as an unprecedented event when the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) decided to recommend Bhutan, Kiribati, São Tomé and Príncipe and Solomon Islands for graduation from the category. Never before have so many countries been identified and recommended for graduation at a single review by the CDP.

In the 47 years of the LDC category’s existence, only five countries have graduated (Botswana, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives and Samoa) and two more countries, Vanuatu and Angola, are scheduled for graduation in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The recommendation will await the endorsement of the Economic and Social Council.

To mark this historic occasion, Professor José Antonio Ocampo, CDP Chair, and CDP member Professor Diane Elson of the University of Essex participated as guest speakers at the UN spokesperson’s noon briefing.

More information

• UN News: Four countries on track to graduate from UN list of least developed countries
• DESA News: Four Countries Suggested for LDC Graduation
• Press Release: Making progress on sustainable development, four least developed countries tapped to graduate from ranks of poorest
• DESA News: Global inequalities and the debate behind “leaving no one behind”
• CDP Plenary
• About the Least Developed Countries category