Poverty Reduction in the Least Developed Countries

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2018 in the subject Economics - Other, Harvard University, language: English, abstract: This paper envisions to find out what has been done to help reduce the level of poverty in Least Developed Countries (LCDs). Moreover, it aims to identify and examine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the strategies implemented. Finally, it will be determined why it has been so difficult to graduate from the LDC category.

The Least Developed Countries are a sub-group of the Developing Countries (formerly referred to as less developed countries) and are defined by the United Nations as countries with low levels of income and human capital, and high economic vulnerability. Most of them are characterized by limited economic growth and export diversification, and a lack of competitive industries and exploitable natural resources. They also confront severe structural impediments to development and are vulnerable to natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes.

World Bank has further sub-classified 23 of the 47 LDCs as "fragile", and argues that these fragile countries experienced below-average GDP growth, under 4 percent a year compared with almost 6 percent in LDCs as a whole between 2000 and 2014. This is problematic because a growth rate of 7 percent has been targeted by international institutions to drive development in these countries.