It is often said that a good sketch is better than a long speech. A good chart can also be a powerful illustration of an issue, a trend or an impact. Each month, UNCTAD will produce a chart to highlight a topical issue affecting least developed countries (LDCs). We call this new product "the LDC chart of the month", developed by our division for Africa, LDCs and special programmes.
I encourage you to follow UNCTAD on social media to see, at the beginning of each month, the latest chart accompanied by a short explanation of the issue in focus. You will also find references to our research material on which the chart is based, for further reading.
With this initiative, we want to raise awareness on the challenges LDCs are facing and stimulate debate and discussions on issues related to these countries, as we support preparations for the LDC5 conference to be held next January. It also allows us to highlight UNCTAD's research work in this area.
The themes of the charts are chosen according to current events, international relevance and availability of data. For example, the recent IMF/World Bank spring meetings have sparked a lot of discussions about debt sustainability and the best recovery strategies after the COVID-19 crisis. Our teams are therefore preparing charts that reflect these concerns.
We launched this series this month with the following graph:
Least developed countries suffer from a lingering digital divide
Get the data and analysis behind the chart.
Contact person: Isabelle Valentiny, Chief of Staff, a.i. : isabelle.valentiny@un.org
