Giving Compass' Take:

• Devex reports on four nations that have been removed from the Committee for Development Policy's least developed countries list, but notes that many challenges remain for the "graduates."

• Getting off the LDC list is a major accomplishment for underdeveloped countries, however aid organizations should not ignore the significant needs that they still require.

• There has been increased collaboration with foundations and Africa's Development Bank, which could be good news for countries like Angola that are still on the LDC, but scheduled to graduate within a few years.

This month in New York marked a significant milestone for some of the world’s least developed countries. The Committee for Development Policy, an advisory body of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, carried out its triennial review of the list of LDCs. The Committee announced that four countries — Bhutan, Kiribati, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Solomon Islands met the criteria for graduation out of the LDC category.

In 2018, the world counts 47 LDCs. They are home to close to 1 billion people, account for less than 2 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, and about 1 percent of global trade in goods. Can we afford to leave 1 billion people behind?

Since the list of LDCs was created in 1971, five countries have graduated: Equatorial Guinea (2017), Botswana (1994), Cabo Verde (2007), Maldives (2011) and Samoa (2014) while Angola is scheduled to graduate in 2021. A further six countries met the graduation criteria this time around. Graduating out of the LDC category is an important milestone and one all of us should celebrate. It means a country and its people have realized major development progress, often overcoming significant hurdles, facing the vagaries of natural disasters, quickly evolving global economic and financial landscapes all in a strive for more prosperous, more inclusive, and sustainable futures.

While we should rejoice in the considerably increasing community of countries graduating or nearing graduation, significant challenges remain. Average GDP growth for these countries remains low at 3.8 percent in 2015, and this is the lowest growth rate observed in the past two decades.

Read the full article about the future for those that graduate from the least developed countries list by Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu at Devex International Development.