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• The criteria
• Indicators of physical quality of life
• Indicators of economic vulnerability
• List of LDCs |
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The criteria
In its latest triennial review of the list of Least Developed Countries in 2000, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations used the following three criteria for determining the new list, as proposed by the Committee for Development Policy:
a low-income criterion, based on a three-year average estimate of the gross domestic product per capita (under $900 for inclusion, above $1,035 for graduation);
a human resource weakness criterion, involving a composite Augmented Physical Quality of Life Index (APQLI) based on indicators of: (a) nutrition; (b) health; (c) education; and (d) adult literacy; and
an economic vulnerability criterion, involving a composite Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) based on indicators of: (a) the instability of agricultural production; (b) the instability of exports of goods and services; (c) the economic importance of non-traditional activities (share of manufacturing and modern services in GDP); (d) merchandise export concentration; and (e) the handicap of economic smallness (as measured through the population in logarithm).
In the 2000 review of the list, a country qualified to be added to the list if it met the above three criteria and did not have a population greater than 75 million. Application of this rule resulted in the admission of Senegal.
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