Samoa graduated from LDC status effective 1 January 2014. It now joins Botswana, Cabo Verde, and Maldives the only other countries that have left the category.
In 2006, the Committee for Development Policy recommended the graduation of Samoa from the LDC category to the Economic and Social Council. The Council endorsed the recommendation in July 2007. Subsequently, the General Assembly (GA) adopted the resolution on the graduation of Samoa, which was scheduled to take place in December 2010. On 29 September 2009, however, Samoa was hit by a devastating tsunami, which threatened to disrupt the socio-economic progress for several years. Consequently, the GA decided to give Samoa additional time to recover and prepare for graduation with the assistance of its development partners.
The Committee for Development Policy (CDP) recommendation to graduate Samoa was based on the country’s relatively high income level and on improved social outcomes as indicated by the country’s high scores on the human asset index (Human Asset Index (HAI)), one of the three criteria used to classify developing countries as least developed.
Graduation offers an important opportunity to do things differently, to have greater ownership of and leadership in the country’s development strategy and to strengthen cooperation with its development partners. The international community will continue to monitor the country during the next few years in order to ensure that graduation does not interfere with Samoa’s progress.
