IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/unt/japsdj/v30y2023i1p165-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Successful Were The Least Developed Countries In Attaining The Millennium Development Goals? An Assessment Based On A Synthetic Approach

Author

Listed:
  • (Corresponding author) Debapriya Bhattacharya

    (the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD))

  • Towfiqul Islam Khan
  • Mostafa Amir Sabbih

Abstract

The present paper used a synthetic approach to create a composite of two indices to measure countries’ progress toward attaining global development goals. The technique assesses the performance of least developed countries (LDCs) in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The results indicate that by the end of 2015, progress was uneven across indicators, with Asian countries performing better. The LDCs that performed better based on the assessment, progressed closer towards graduating from the LDC group. The synthetic, analytical approach proposed for this paper can be applied to measure countries' comparative progress towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Suggested Citation

  • (Corresponding author) Debapriya Bhattacharya & Towfiqul Islam Khan & Mostafa Amir Sabbih, 2023. "How Successful Were The Least Developed Countries In Attaining The Millennium Development Goals? An Assessment Based On A Synthetic Approach," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 165-193, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:unt:japsdj:v:30:y:2023:i:1:p:165-193
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repository.unescap.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12870/6034/ESCAP-2023-JN-APSDJ-v30-n1.pdf#page=177
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Soyres, François & Mulabdic, Alen & Ruta, Michele, 2020. "Common transport infrastructure: A quantitative model and estimates from the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Dilip K Das, 2014. "The Role of China in Asia's Evolution to Global Economic Prominence," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 201410, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    3. Annageldy Arazmuradov, 2015. "Can Development Aid Help Promote Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence from Central Asia," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 123-136, February.
    4. Matthew Dornan & Jonathan Pryke, 2017. "Foreign Aid to the Pacific: Trends and Developments in the Twenty-First Century," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 386-404, September.
    5. Bird, Julia & Lebrand, Mathilde & Venables, Anthony J., 2020. "The Belt and Road Initiative: Reshaping economic geography in Central Asia?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Lall, Somik V. & Lebrand, Mathilde, 2020. "Who wins, who loses? Understanding the spatially differentiated effects of the belt and road initiative," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    7. Bandiera, Luca & Tsiropoulos, Vasileios, 2020. "A Framework to Assess Debt Sustainability under the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Matthew Dornan and Jonathan Pryke, 2017. "Foreign Aid to the Pacific: Trends and Developments in the Twenty-First Century," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 201729, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    9. Huang, Yiping, 2016. "Understanding China's Belt & Road Initiative: Motivation, framework and assessment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 314-321.
    10. Kojima, Kiyoshi, 2000. "The "flying geese" model of Asian economic development: origin, theoretical extensions, and regional policy implications," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 375-401.
    11. Dilip K Das, 2014. "The Role of China in Asia's Evolution to Global Economic Prominence," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 216-229, January.
    12. Foo, Nam & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Salim, Ruhul, 2020. "The impact of China’s one belt one road initiative on international trade in the ASEAN region," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salma Ahmed, 2023. "Development Of Asia-Pacific Countries: Does Belt And Road Initiative Make Any Difference?," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 217-262, May.
    2. Anchal Arora, 2023. "Growth, Yield And Environmental Sustainability Of Cotton Production In India: Performance And Policy Measures," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 195-215, May.
    3. Xunpeng Shi & Matthew Wittenstein, 2023. "Aligning Critical Mineral Development In The Asia-Pacific Region With The Sustainable Development Goals," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 151-162, May.
    4. (Corresponding author) Tae Yong Jung & Jaewan Kim & Jongwoo Moon & Yong Gun Kim, 2023. "Assessment Of The Enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions Of The Republic Of Korea And The Strategies For The 2050 Net-Zero Target," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 43-66, May.
    5. ESCAP secretariat, 2023. "Accelerating Climate Action In Asia And The Pacific For Sustainable Development," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 1-17, May.
    6. (Corresponding author) Joyashree Roy & Hasan Mahmud, 2023. "What To Focus On In Order To Accelerate Access To Modern Energy Services And Energy Use Efficiency In Bangladesh," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 89-120, May.
    7. (Corresponding author) Shobhakar Dhakal & Melissa Pradhan, 2023. "Identification And Prioritization Of Barriers To Access International Climate Finance For Nepal," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 121-148, May.
    8. (Corresponding author) Keigo Akimoto & Fuminori Sano & Takashi Homma & Miyuki Nagashima & Naoko Onishi, 2023. "Analysis Of The 2030 Emissions Reduction Targets Of The Previous And Current Nationally Determined Contributions Of Japan, And A Comparison Between Countries Using Energy-Technology And Energy-Economi," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 30(1), pages 19-41, May.
    9. Nugent, Jeffrey B. & Lu, Jiaxuan, 2021. "China's outward foreign direct investment in the Belt and Road Initiative: What are the motives for Chinese firms to invest?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Dreher, Axel & Bluhm, Richard & Fuchs, Andreas & Parks, Bradley & Strange, Austin & Tierney, Michael, 2020. "Connective Financing - Chinese Infrastructure Projects and the Diffusion of Economic Activity in Developing Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 14818, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Zhi Luo & Guanghua Wan & Chen Wang & Xun Zhang, 2022. "The distributive impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 586-604, July.
    12. Lebrand,Mathilde Sylvie Maria, 2021. "Corridors without Borders in West Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9855, The World Bank.
    13. Maoguo Wu & Xierui Han, 2022. "Influence of Economic Openness on Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from China’s Belt and Road Initiative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-24, October.
    14. Lingduo Jiang & Guofeng Zhang & Hang Zhang, 2023. "The role of the Belt and Road Initiative: New opportunity for Chinese exporters?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1609-1647, June.
    15. Damoah, Kaku Attah & Giovannetti, Giorgia & Marvasi, Enrico, 2022. "Do country centrality and similarity to China matter in the allocation of belt and road projects?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 660-674.
    16. de Soyres, François & Mulabdic, Alen & Ruta, Michele, 2020. "Common transport infrastructure: A quantitative model and estimates from the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    17. Herrera Dappe,Matias & Lebrand,Mathilde Sylvie Maria, 2021. "Infrastructure and Structural Change in the Horn of Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9870, The World Bank.
    18. Sha, Yezhou & Song, Weijia, 2021. "Can Bitcoin hedge Belt and Road equity markets?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    19. de Soyres, François & Mulabdic, Alen & Murray, Siobhan & Rocha, Nadia & Ruta, Michele, 2019. "How much will the Belt and Road Initiative reduce trade costs?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 151-164.
    20. Claire Brereton & Amelia Turagabeci & Donald Wilson & Peter D. Sly & Paul Jagals, 2018. "Children’s Environmental Health Indicators for Pacific Island Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Millennium Development Goals; least developed countries; development; progress assessment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unt:japsdj:v:30:y:2023:i:1:p:165-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Office of the Executive Secretary, ESCAP (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/escapth.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.