The 10 Least Developed Countries in the World

The world has clear social inequality, where millions of people are starving, while others have access to health, sanitation, education, and other basic services.

While many countries do not have the basics to live with quality. Follow the article and get to know the 10 least developed countries in the world.

Human Development Index

To measure the development of countries, it is necessary to consider several factors: economic development, social factors, political freedom, and many others. And an index that proposes to analyze these factors is the human development index.

The human development index (abbreviated as HDI) presents the evaluation of several development metrics of a region in a holistic way. The result is given in numeric numbers.

The 10 Least Developed Countries in the World

This metric is made from 1 to 0. Therefore, the closer to 1, the more the country is developed. On the other hand, the closer to 9, the greater the level of underdevelopment.

Among all the factors that the HDI analyzes, three stand out: the income of individuals in the region, the quality of health offered in the country and their educational level.

What are the least developed countries in the world?

The 10 underdeveloped countries are located on the African continent. In short, the HDI (Human Development Index ) list brought the following countries, as those with the worst HDIs, follows:

The world has clear social inequality, where millions of people are starving, while others have access to health, sanitation, education and other basic services.

While many countries do not have the basics to live with quality. Follow the article and get to know the 10 least developed countries in the world.

10. Guinea (HDI 0.465)

The Republic of Guinea is a country of colonized heritage on the East African coast. Colonized by France, it has a history of coups since its independence in the 1950s. It had its first democratic elections in 2010.

It is a country with a rural economy, with one of the highest inflation rates in the world. At a certain point in its history, it employed more than 75% of the population in planting and mining activities.

9. Yemen (HDI 0.455)

A country located in East Africa, on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is the 111th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of US$ 28 billion. Today it lives under a military junta and has extractive activities among the main ones in the country.

8. Burkina Faso (HDI 0.449)

The country of Burkina Faso borders the following countries: Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Thus, the GDP of Burkina Faso in 2020 was 17.37 billion dollars. Thus, the capital of the country is Ouagadougou. The currency is the Western CFA Franc.

7. Mozambique (HDI 0.0446)

Mozambique is a country located in the south of Africa, with the coastline in the eastern part of the continent. The countries bordering Mozambique are: Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Swaziland.

Thus, Mozambique’s GDP in 2020 was US$14.02 billion. Also, the capital is Maputo and the currency is the Metical.

6. Mali (HDI 0.428)

Mali is a country bordering the following countries: Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal and Mauritania.

Thus, the capital of Mali is Bamako. In this way, the currency is Western CFA Franc, OPIB recorded in 2020 was 17.39 billion USD.

5. Burundi (HDI 0.426)

Burundi is a country that borders the following countries: Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In this sense, the capital of Burundi is Gitega. Thus, the currency of the country is the Burundi Franc. The GDP in 2020 was 3.258 billion dollars.

4. Central African Republic (HDI 0.404)

The Central African Republic borders Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Cameroon and Chad.

The currency of the Central African Republic is the CFA Central Franc. Even more, the country’s GDP was 2.303 billion USD in 2020, The country’s capital is Bangui.

3. Niger (HDI 0.400)

Niger is located in West Africa, bordering the following countries: Chad, Nigeria, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Libya.

Thus, the currency of Niger is the CFA Franc, and the GDP in 2020 was 13.68 billion dollars. As well as, the capital of the country is Niamey.

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2. Chad (HDI 0.394)

Chad borders the following countries: Libya, Sudan, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. As well, the capital is Djamena

Chad’s GDP in 2020 was 10.09 billion USD, the country’s currency is the Central CFA Franc.

1. South Sudan (HDI 0.385)

South Sudan is the least developed country in the world. It borders six nations, they are: Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.

Thus, the capital of South Sudan is Juba, and the currency is the South Sudanese Pound. The country’s GDP in 2015 was 12 billion dollars.

Characteristics of underdeveloped countries

There are several characteristics of underdeveloped countries that make their economic and social indices so low. Among them, three factors stand out:

Economic vulnerability;
Social fragility;
Low income.

Economic vulnerability

First, low-development countries are very economically vulnerable. That is: its economy is not developed, and investors are not attracted to allocate capital in these regions.

This is even more evident in periods of economic crisis, when investors tend to be conservative and prefer to allocate capital in safer countries.

Social fragility

Secondly, one can speak of the social fragility of these countries: many live in civil war and do not have any quality of life for their population.

Public health, sanitation, basic education, security… All these factors are missing in these locations, which harms the country as a whole.

Low income

Finally, the low income in this country is a determining factor. Thus, the local population is unable to buy goods and services to lead a better quality of life.

Therefore, the low per capita income makes living conditions in these places more precarious, maintaining the underdeveloped levels of the country.

Underdeveloped countries in America

Although the least developed countries in the world are located in Africa, there are underdeveloped countries all over the world – and America is no different.

First, it is worth mentioning that there are only two countries considered developed in the American continent: the United States (the largest global economic power) and Canada. The others are considered in development.

This is true both for North America (whose only other country besides the two powers is Mexico), for the Central American region, and for the various countries of South America.

However, some countries have slightly better rates. Brazil, Uruguay and Chile, for example, have better social and economic characteristics than the other nations in the region. However, the indexes of underdeveloped countries in America are still very low when compared to those present in developed countries.