Amid fast growth in new industrial countries in Asia and the Pacific and rising prosperity in the region, the UN agencies on Wednesday warned of widespread extreme poverty in the least developed countries (LDCs).

Asia-Pacific has 14 LDCs whose per capita income averaging just 513 US dollars, only one-fourth of that in the region overall, and almost half of their population lives below poverty lines, according to a joint report by the UN Development Program and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ( UNESCAP).

By contrast, the region also has some of the fastest growing economies of the world such as China and India, together accounting for nearly 40 percent of the global population.

"The Asia-Pacific region as a whole has made significant progress toward attaining the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals). Yet, within our region, progress in attaining these goals, particularly in the 14 LDCs, has been rather disappointing," UNESCAP executive-secretary Kim Hak-su told a press conference here.

The 14 LDCs include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

They constitute 28 percent of all 50 LDCs in the world.

"Due to the tyranny of averages, the relatively poor performance of the Asia-Pacific LDCs gets overshadowed," said the report, which was issued on the sidelines of the regional ministerial meeting on the Millennium Development Goals here.

What makes Asia-Pacific LDCs unique is "their location in an economically dynamic region," it said.

The report urged wealthier countries in the region to increase trade with LDCs and further opening up of their markets.

"If development partners do not rise to the challenge, the region's overall dynamism could exacerbate inequalities and contribute to growing disaffection spilling across national boundaries," it said.

Source: Xinhua