LDC Portal - International Support Measures for Least Developed Countries - Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 161: On the path to an older population: Maximizing the benefits from the demographic dividend in the least developed countries

MTAVARES1 — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Guangyu Zhang, Karoline Schmid, with support from John Wilmoth and Jorge Bravo

Document Summary:

Key messages: "While many least developed countries (LDCs) are still experiencing persistently high fertility and rapid population growth, they have also begun to experience progressive population ageing. Some Asia-Pacific LDCs have seen their older populations grow rapidly in recent decades, and all LDCs are projected to experience an increase in both the share and the number of older persons over the next several decades, with an accelerated pace of change expected beyond mid-century. Since most LDCs are in the initial stages of the demographic transition, they have an opportunity to maximize the future benefits of the demographic dividend through enhanced investments in health care, education and job creation to accommodate their large and still-growing cohorts of youth and working-age adults. Governments of LDCs are encouraged to accelerate the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, including its call to “support the acceleration of the demographic transition, where relevant”, by facilitating a more rapid decline in fertility; an accelerated fertility decline would reduce the size of future birth cohorts and free up resources to invest in health care, education and job creation. Governments of LDCs should strengthen efforts to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care, protect reproductive rights, advance gender equality and empower all women and girls; such actions will help women and their partners to realize their reproductive preferences while also accelerating the demographic transition in countries where the population is still growing rapidly."

Tags:

Population

Ageing

Demographic dividend

Publication Date:

Wednesday, 14 August 2024

UNDESA

Document Topic/Theme:

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

Articles, policy briefs, working papers, op-eds, project reports, blogs

Archived:

Symbol year:

2024

Podcast: History of hunger: how the war in Ukraine is making food crises even worse in Africa and LDCs (UNCTAD, The Weekly Tradecast)

MTAVARES1 — Thu, 25 May 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Rolf Traeger

Document Summary:

The world is in one of the worst crises in modern history as the war in Ukraine hits food supplies just as many countries try to cope with extreme weather and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But even before the disruptions from the war, many least developed countries were feeling the strain. Tune in to UNCTAD economist Rolf Traeger to find out why many resource-rich places have faced severe constraints with food production and access and what can be done.

Tags:

UNCTAD

Hunger

Food security

Food prices

Publication Date:

Thursday, 25 May 2023

UNCTAD

Document Topic/Theme:

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

Podcast or video

Archived:

Symbol year:

2023

The expanding threat to food security in least developed countries, Brendan Vickers, Salamat Ali and Neil Balchin for OECD Development Matters

MTAVARES1 — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 13:00:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Brendan Vickers, Salamat Ali and Neil Balchin

Document Summary:

The number of severely food insecure people across the world is estimated to have doubled in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic to 276 million. This number is expected to reach 323 million in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine. Least developed countries (LDCs) are particularly exposed to this crisis within a crisis: data from the Food and Agriculture Organization indicates more than 251 million people in LDCs are severely food insecure. What makes LDCs particularly vulnerable to food insecurity? Three key factors explain why LDCs are so vulnerable to food insecurity.

Tags:

OECD

Food security

Ukraine

COVID-19

Publication Date:

Tuesday, 05 July 2022

OECD Development Matters

Document Topic/Theme:

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

Articles, policy briefs, working papers, op-eds, project reports, blogs

Archived:

Symbol year:

2022

Present and future of work in the Least Developed Countries - ILO

MTAVARES1 — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

ILO

Document Summary:

This report provides an overview of the state of development and the structural challenges facing LDCs along the dimensions of structural transformation, productive employment, work conditions and just transition. It also highlights policy frameworks and institutional reforms that can create pathways for increasing productivity, employment, incomes and inclusiveness. Part I, on Decent Work Gaps and Challenges in LDCs, describes current trends in production, productivity and employment, highlighting those work quality dimensions that are most relevant for the LDCs (Chapter 1). It looks at the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the LDC economies and populations and proposes a framework for a “building forward better” recovery. This framework focuses on the policies and resources needed to support a recovery that lays the foundations for longer-term sustainable development (Chapter 2). Part II, on Structural Transformation, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth and Decent Work, looks in greater detail at the challenges and opportunities for LDCs in building their productive capacity and undertaking structural transformation. It suggests that they should be supported in these tasks by multidimensional employment policies that include industrial development policies, skills development, transition to formality and an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises to generate and unleash productive capacities and opportunities. These productive capacities include not only stronger economic linkages and entrepreneurial capacities, but also improved human capabilities, skills, effective institutions and social protection systems. The idea is to make structural transformation more sustainable, resilient and productive while also leading to higher incomes and more equitable income and gender distribution (Chapters 3 and 4). Finally, Part II looks at the cross-cutting challenges posed by climate change for LDCs and how their response can yield development gains.

Tags:

ILO

Decent work

Employment

Just transition

Publication Date:

Friday, 29 April 2022

ILO

Document Topic/Theme:

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Productive capacity, structural transformation, technology, innovation

Document Type:

UN and WTO reports and publications

Archived:

Symbol year:

2022

The Social Costs of Graduating from Least Developed Country Status: Analyzing the impact of increased protection on insulin prices in Bangladesh (GEGI Working Paper 038)

MTAVARES1 — Mon, 31 May 2021 15:25:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Deen Islam, Warren A. Kaplan, Veronika J. Wirtz, Kevin P. Gallagher

Document Summary:

In 2021, the United Nations Committee on Development Policy will consider whether Bangladesh should graduate from ‘least developed country’ (LDC) status. If graduation is granted, in 2024 Bangladesh would thus have to forego its exemption to intellectual property (IP) provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Bangladesh has taken advantage of the policy space it was granted under the LDC exemption to the WTO to build a generic medicines industry that not only serves Bangladesh but also other LDCs. Under the WTO, Bangladesh will have to require patent protection of certain medicines. We draw on previous work and develop a model to examine how IP provisions in the WTO will impact the prices of insulin in Bangladesh and its subsequent impacts on welfare and poverty. We find that LDC graduation will trigger a significant jump in insulin prices that could cause a up to a 50 percent decline in the welfare of households with one or more members living with diabetes in Bangladesh, increasing the poverty rate of such households up to 36 percent and of those needing insulin up to 60 percent unless policy adjustments are carried out.

Location of Publication:

Bangladesh

Publication Date:

Monday, 31 May 2021

Global Development Policy Center, Boston University

Document Topic/Theme:

LDC graduation and smooth transition

Trade

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

Articles, policy briefs, working papers, op-eds, project reports, blogs

Archived:

Symbol year:

2021

COVID-19, jobs and the future of work in the LDCs: A (disheartening) preliminary account

MTAVARES1 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 16:25:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Aurelio Parisotto and Adam Alsheikhi

Document Summary:

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the COVID-19-induced health and labour market crises in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), drawing on a large set of available data and sources. It highlights how the outbreak is affecting jobs and incomes via multiple channels of transmission. It looks at policy responses so far and provides some suggestions for national employment and economic policies, as well as international support to help LDCs on their path to a job-rich recovery and future resilience.

Publication Date:

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

ILO

Document Topic/Theme:

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

UN and WTO reports and publications

Archived:

Symbol year:

2020

Health Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Graduating LDCs

MTAVARES1 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 16:25:00 +0000

Document Type:

Drupal File Upload

Author:

WTO Secretariat and EIF

Document Summary:

The report builds on the analysis carried out in the report "Trade impacts of LDC graduation" issued by WTO in May 2020. It was prepared by Pascale R. Leroueil, The William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, under the auspices of the EIF-WTO Project on LDC Graduation

Publication Date:

Tuesday, 01 December 2020

WTO Secretariat and EIF

Document Topic/Theme:

Trade

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

LDC graduation and smooth transition

COVID-19

Document Type:

Articles, policy briefs, working papers, op-eds, project reports, blogs

Archived:

Symbol year:

2020

COVID-19 and global poverty: Are LDCs being left behind? - UNU-WIDER Working Paper 73/2020

MTAVARES1 — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 15:25:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Giovanni Valensisi

Document Summary:

This paper provides a preliminary assessment of COVID-19’s impact on global poverty in the light of the IMF’s April 2020 growth forecasts. The analysis shows that the pandemic will have dramatic consequences, eroding many of the gains recorded over the last decade in terms of poverty reduction. Our baseline case suggests that globally the number of people living below US$1.90 per day could increase by 68 million in 2020 alone, with much larger effects should the recession turn out to be more severe than expected. This represents a significant setback and, without effective international support and cooperation, will pose a critical threat to the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The fallout from the pandemic will also exacerbate the geographic concentration of poverty, as exemplified by the case of the Least Developed Countries, which are set to represent the main locus of extreme poverty

Publication Date:

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

UNU-WIDER 2020

Document Topic/Theme:

COVID-19

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

Articles, policy briefs, working papers, op-eds, project reports, blogs

Archived:

Symbol year:

2020

Migration, Diasporas and the Sustainable Development Goals in Least Developed Countries (CDP Background Paper No. 48; Keith Nurse)

MTAVARES1 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:25:00 +0000

Document Type:

Link to an External Document

Author:

Keith Nurse

Document Summary:

Migration and the growth of global diasporas are key contemporary trends which impact on the pledge to “leave no one behind” in the 2030 Agenda. The developmental potential of migration is captured in four Goals and five Targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper offers critical perspectives on the SDGs targets with a discussion on the economic challenges as well as the opportunities for trade and entrepreneurship. The focus is particularly on remittances (including South-South remittances) and other financial investments such as diaspora savings and bonds. The second area of analysis is financial innovation through the growth of money transfer organizations in LDCs (i.e. Haiti, Tonga and Bangladesh) and the rise of mobile money. The paper also discusses the impact of these trends on financial inclusion and the banking of unbanked populations, and concludes with key recommendations and insights.

Publication Date:

Thursday, 08 November 2018

Committee for Development Policy (CDP) Secretariat

Document Topic/Theme:

Poverty, health, education, food security, employment, social security

Document Type:

Articles, policy briefs, working papers, op-eds, project reports, blogs

Archived:

Symbol year:

2018