Africa has a highest number Less Economically Developed Countries (LDCs) with 33 countries compared to Asia with nine, Caribbean with one and Pacific with four, the Least Developed Countries Report 2017 has shown.
The report which stems from Sustainable Development Goals number 7 which seeks to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all noted that only four countries in Africa could achieve universal access by 2030.
“Despite an impressive rate of progress in recent years, only four of the 47 LDCs could achieve universal access by 2030 without an acceleration of the rate of increase in access, while only seven more could do so even if they doubled their current rate of progress”, the 2017 Report has shown.
In nearly a quarter of the LDCs, by contrast, achieving universal access by 2030 would require the number of persons gaining access annually to be 10 times higher in the coming years than over the past decade.
According to the Least Developed Countries Report 2017, 82% of the people in rural areas in LEDs have no access to electricity.
“Previous editions of the Least Developed Countries Report have argued that the least developed countries (LDCs) are the battleground on which the SDGs will be won or lost, however the LDCs have made extra ordinary progress in increasing access to electricity, which has more than tripled from 12% to 38% since 1990”, the 2017 Report alludes.
According to the United Nations the list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a group of independent experts reporting to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and there are three criteria used by CDP in the review of list which are: a per capita income criterion, a human assets criterion, and an economic vulnerability criterion.
“A country will qualify to be added to the list if it meets the thresholds for addition under all three criteria and does not have a population greater than 75 million”, African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) Knowledge Management Expert, Dr Barassou Diawara said.
He added that, “Qualification for addition for the list will effectively lead to LDC status only if the Government of the relevant country accepts this status and a country will normally qualify for graduation if it has met the graduation thresholds under at least two of the criteria in at least two consecutive triennial reviews of the list”.
According to the report, overall achieving universal access in LDCs by 2030 would require grid extension to reach an estimated 571 million more people, mini grids to serve 341 million, and stand-alone systems for 114 million.
In 2006, Zimbabwe together with Ghana and Papua New Guinea were considered by the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) to be eligible for the LDC status, but declined to be included in the category.
