LDC facts and figures
Where are LDCs located?
The UN established the LDC category 51 years ago. The list of LDCs has expanded from an initial 25 countries in 1971, peaking at 52 in 1991, and stands at 44 today, with only seven countries having graduated – stopped being an LDC – to date.
They are distributed among the following regions:
- Africa (32): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
- Asia (8): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste and Yemen.
- Caribbean (1): Haiti.
- Pacific (3): Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
See UNCTAD's page about the least developed countries for more information.
How do countries ‘graduate’ from least developed country status?
The list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a group of independent experts who report to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Following a triennial review of the list, the CDP may recommend to ECOSOC, countries for addition to the list or graduation from LDC status.
To graduate from the LDC category, a country must meet the established graduation thresholds of at least two of the three criteria for two consecutive triennial reviews: namely: (i) income per capita, (ii) an index of human assets, and (iii) an index of economic and environmental vulnerability.
Countries that are highly vulnerable, or have very low human assets, are eligible for graduation only if they meet the other two criteria by a sufficiently high margin. As an exception, a country whose per capita income is sustainably above the “income-only” graduation threshold, set at three times the graduation threshold, becomes eligible for graduation, even if it fails to meet the other two criteria.
The eight countries that have graduated from least developed country status since the creation of the category are:
- Botswana in December 1994
- Cabo Verde in December 2007
- Maldives in January 2011
- Samoa in January 2014
- Equatorial Guinea in June 2017
- Vanuatu in December 2020
- Bhutan in December 2023
- Sao Tome and Principe in December 2024