The Least Developed Countries Report 2019

This report provides a comprehensive source of socio-economic analysis and data on the world's most impoverished countries. It calls for least developed countries (LDCs) to ensure that external finance from all sources is directed to national development priorities, and urges the international community to scale up its support toward this goal. Persistent shortfalls in domestic savings in the least developed countries make them heavily dependent on external finance. The least developed countries are most dependent on official development assistance. Official development assistance is essential for LDCs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and eventually escape aid dependence.

This report provides a comprehensive source of socio-economic analysis and data on the world's most impoverished countries. It calls for least developed countries (LDCs) to ensure that external finance from all sources is directed to national development priorities, and urges the international community to scale up its support toward this goal. Persistent shortfalls in domestic savings in the least developed countries make them heavily dependent on external finance. The least developed countries are most dependent on official development assistance. Official development assistance is essential for LDCs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and eventually escape aid dependence.

This series contains the decisions of the Court in both the English and French texts.

Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.

Inequalities in human development are a roadblock to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are not just about disparities in income and wealth. They cannot be accounted for simply by using summary measures of inequality that focus on a single dimension. And they will shape the prospects of people that may live to see the 22nd century. The 2019 Report explores inequalities in human development by going beyond income, beyond averages and beyond today. It asks what forms of inequality matter and what drives them, recognizing that pernicious inequalities are generally better thought of as a symptom of broader problems in a society and economy. It also asks what policies can tackle those drivers—policies that can simultaneously help nations to grow their economies, improve human development and reduce inequality.

Least developed countries (LDCs) are among the world’s countries most dependent on foreign aid for the financing of their development. While this is a traditional feature of their development trajectory, it has become even more challenging in recent years for two reasons. First, the Sustainable Development Goals put requirements for additional investment and spending (especially for structural transformation) at a much higher level, and LDCs need to mobilize and manage the corresponding financing. Second, the international aid architecture has been transformed by the emergence of a large array of instruments and actors, including South-South Cooperation providers, private sector, philanthropic organizations and non-governmental organizations. This complex and changing landscape presents new challenges for the constrained policymaking capacities of LDC states in their quest for structural transformation. It requires LDC and their development partners to agree a new aid effectiveness agenda and transform the terms of their development partnership.

The 2019 edition of the World Investment Report focuses on special economic zones (SEZs) which are widely used across most developing and many developed economies. Although the performance of many zones remains below expectations, the rate of establishment of new zones is accelerating as governments increasingly compete for internationally mobile industrial activity. Policymakers face not only the traditional challenges to making SEZs succeed, including the need for strategic focus, sound governance models, and effective investment promotion tools, but also new challenges brought about by the sustainable development imperative, the new industrial revolution, and changing patterns of international production. The Report explores the place of SEZs in today’s global investment landscape and provides guidance for policymakers on how to make SEZs work for sustainable development. It presents international investment trends and prospects at global, regional and national levels, as well as the evolution of international production and global value chains. It analyses the latest developments in new policy measures for investment promotion, facilitation and regulation around the world, as well as updates on investment treaties, their reform and investment dispute settlement cases.

In 2023, the combined GDP of the LDCs was 10 per cent below the level it would have reached had the pre-pandemic (2010-2019) growth trend been sustained. As a result, at least an additional 15 million people in LDCs are now living in extreme poverty, with their governments severely constrained in their ability to sustain adequate investments in public services or invest in advancing development progress. The Report highlights the urgent need for concerted action to restore fiscal space in LDCs through the lasting resolution of the debt crisis, reform of the international financial architecture, and the mobilization of climate finance to enable needed investments towards low-carbon transition and green structural transformation. Without which, the SDGs and sustainable development cannot be realised. The Report advances several recommendations aimed at advancing the reform of global development finance, which in its current state, is deficient in terms of its quantity, quality, structure, cost and ease of accessibility. The Report also contains a detailed analysis of the possible role of central banks in shaping the financing of sustainable development and green structural transformation in LDCs. While the contribution of central banks to dealing with climate change has been discussed in developed countries, this is the first time this type of analysis is done in the context of the LDCs.