INTERNATIONAL: According to a United Nations official quoted by the Chinese News Agency Xinhua, Cambodia's remarkable decline in poverty rate is a positive step towards the country's graduation from the status of Least Developed Country (LDC) in Southeast Asia.

As per the 2023 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released last week by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the University Of Oxford, Cambodia's poverty rate has decreased to 16.6 percent in 2022 from 36.7 percent in 2014.

The report indicates that the number of poor people in Cambodia has been halved from 5.6 million to 2.8 million, with one in five Cambodians moving out of poverty in just 7.5 years.

Ms. Alissar Chaker, the UNDP Resident Representative to Cambodia, stated, "Cambodia's progress in reducing poverty is a positive indication towards the country's LDC graduation," according to Xinhua.

However, the index highlights two noteworthy trends. The reduction in MPI in urban areas has not shown significant progress compared to rural areas, and the number of out-of-school children has increased sharply during the measured period.

Ms. Chaker emphasized that Cambodia, along with 193 other countries that adopted the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in 2015, pledged to leave no one behind. She stated, "Therefore, it is important to maintain the positive momentum and ensure progress on all indicators. UNDP is committed to continuing the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and supporting the government and civil society's efforts to reduce bottlenecks and build resilience."

Last month, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen stated in a public speech that the Kingdom is projected to graduate from the least developed country status by 2027. He expressed confidence in Cambodia's ability to achieve its goal of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030.