Half of all imported goods from low-income countries are clothes

07/04/2021 15:00

In 2020, the Netherlands imported 2.9 billion euros worth of goods from the 46 least developed countries (LDCs). This is 4 percent less than in 2019. Half of the imports consist of clothing, mainly from Bangladesh. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on the basis of provisional figures on international goods trade.

The United Nations compiles a list of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) which is reviewed every three years. The criteria are gross domestic product (GDP), economic vulnerability and several indicators on education and health. 13.6 percent of the entire world population live in one of these 46 countries, most of them located in Africa (33 countries, 700 million inhabitants) and Asia (9 countries, 340 million inhabitants); another 15 million live in low-income countries in Oceania (3) and America (1).