Least developed country facts for kids

Least developed countries are shown in blue.

A least developed country (often called an LDC) is a nation that the United Nations (UN) considers to be among the poorest and least developed in the world. These countries usually have very low scores on the Human Development Index, which measures things like health, education, and living standards. The idea to identify LDCs began in the late 1960s. The UN first listed these countries in November 1971.

How Countries Become LDCs

The UN uses special ways to decide if a country is a least developed country. They look at three main things:

Low Income Levels

• A country's average income per person must be very low. The UN looks at the average income over three years to decide this.

Weak Human Resources

• This means looking at how well people in the country are doing. The UN uses something called the Human Assets Index. This index checks important social factors like:
  • Health: How healthy people are.
  • Education: How much schooling people get.
  • Literacy: How many adults can read and write.

Vulnerable Economy

• This looks at how easily a country's economy can be hurt by outside problems. The UN uses the Economic Vulnerability Index. This index checks if the economy is easily affected by things like natural disasters or big changes in world prices.

To be an LDC, a country must have a lot of poverty, not enough skilled people, and an economy that is easily damaged. The UN regularly checks these points.

Graduating from LDC Status

The rules for LDCs are checked every three years. Countries can stop being an LDC if their indicators show they have grown enough. Since the LDC group was created, a few countries have improved enough to be called "developing countries" instead.

• Botswana was the first to graduate in 1994.
• Cape Verde followed in 2007.
• Then Maldives in 2011.
• And Samoa in 2014.
• Equatorial Guinea and Vanuatu are expected to be the next countries to move out of the LDC group.

As of 2014, there are 48 least developed countries. There are also three countries that meet the LDC rules but have asked not to be included: Ghana, Papua New Guinea, and Zimbabwe.

Current List of Least Developed Countries

Here is the list of countries the United Nations currently considers "least developed":

Related topics

• Developed country
• Developing country
• Third world
• List of countries by Human Development Index
• Poverty line
• Small Island Developing States

External links

• United Nations, "LDCs: Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States"
• World Trade Organisation, ""WTO Launches Trade Initiative for Least Developed Countries", FOCUS newsletter, WTO, Geneva, Switzerland, November 1997 issue 24.

Images for kids

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  Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece Spyros Kouvelis at the 4th UN Conference on Least Developed Countries

See also

In Spanish: Países menos desarrollados para niños