List of Least Developed Countries

Earlier this year, the New York Times published a list of the ten least developed countries. But what do we mean by "least developed"? The category doesn't have a fixed definition, but it's generally used to describe countries that have a very low standard of living, as measured by the standards of the United Nations.

In summary, The world's least developed countries are the very poorest in the world. They are typically marked by low levels of capitalism, high levels of illiteracy, low average life expectancy and high infant mortality. The UN also uses the term "least developed countries" to refer to countries with low human development indices. This means that although some countries on this list are considered very poor, they are still making progress on some of their social and economic indicators.