Press Release

The 46^th Plenary Meeting of the 78th United Nations General Assembly held on 18 December 2023 adopted by consensus the resolution (A/78/L.27) titled ‘Graduation of Bhutan from the least developed country category’. 162 member states of the UN co-sponsored the resolution.

The resolution commends the commitment of Bhutan to graduate from the LDC category and invites bilateral, regional and multilateral development and trading partners to provide full support to the implementation of Bhutan’s 13th National Development Plan and Long-Term Plan spanning up to 2034, including by extending all the international support measures particularly those related to trade, as per the Doha Programme of Action, until 13 December 2028.

Bhutan graduated from the LDC category on 13 December 2023 after a five year preparatory period in line with the UN resolution 73/133 passed on 13 December 2018. Bhutan was recommended for graduation after meeting graduation thresholds in the GNI per capita and Human Assets Index criteria during two consecutive triennial reviews of 2015 and 2018. During the 2021 triennial review, Bhutan met graduation thresholds for all three criteria, including the Economic and Environmental Vulnerability Index.

Bhutan was among the first group of LDCs listed by the United Nations in 1971 and is the seventh country to graduate from the category.