Despite strong economic growth, human development in the world’s least-developed countries is still lagging and can jeopardize the post-2015 agenda, according to a new report by the U.N Conference on Trade and Development that urges donors to help LDCs get back on the road to economic transformation by living up to their official development assistance commitments.
“The LDCs are the battleground on which the post-2015 agenda will be won or lost”, David Woodward, UNCTAD senior adviser and and co-author of the study, told Devex on the sidelines of the report’s launch last Friday at the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels.
Of the 48 countries designated by the U.N. as LDCs, two-thirds are in sub-Saharan Africa and the rest are in Asia (9), the Pacific (4) and Haiti in the Caribbean. Most of them have been reporting strong economic growth over the last decade, but many remain far from meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
About the author
Diederik Kramers @DiederikKramers
Diederik Kramers is a freelance correspondent in Brussels covering EU and NATO affairs. A former spokesperson and communications officer for UNICEF and UNHCR, he previously worked as foreign desk and Eastern Europe editor for the Dutch press agency ANP and as editor-in-chief of the Dutch quarterly Ukraine Magazine.
