Global poverty further concentrated: UN report

Global poverty is increasingly concentrated among a group of 48 countries, which are falling further behind the rest of the world in terms of economic development, a UN report said on Tuesday.

Titled "The Least Developed Countries Report 2016: The Path to Graduation and Beyond -- Making the Most of the Process", the report was released by UN Conference on trade and development (UNCTAD).

The proportion of the global poor in the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) has more than doubled since 1990, to well over 40 percent, it said.

Also, the global poor's share of those without access to water has doubled to 43.5 percent in the same period, according to the report.

These countries now account for the majority (53.4 percent) of the 1.1 billion people worldwide who do not have access to electricity, an increase of two thirds, it said.

"These are the countries where the global battle for poverty eradication will be won or lost," said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.

The LDC category was created largely to target international support in finance, trade and technology for those countries that most need it.

Countries graduate from the LDC category by satisfying a complex set of economic and social criteria.

In 2011, the international community set a goal that half of all LDCs should satisfy the criteria for graduation by 2020. But halfway to the target date, this goal already appears out of reach.

Only one country (Samoa) has graduated since 2011 and only three more (Equatorial Guinea, Vanuatu and Angola) are scheduled to do so in the coming years.

"A year ago, the global community pledged to 'leave no one behind', but that is exactly what is happening to the LDCs," Kituyi deplored.

The UNCTAD called international donors to fulfill their long-standing commitments to provide 0.15-0.2 percent of their national income for assistance to LDCs. Endite