UN General Assembly gives Nepal three more years in the least developed country category

29 October 2026

Nepal will stay on the United Nations list of least developed countries for three more years. The General Assembly, meeting in its eighty-first session in New York, agreed without a vote to shift Nepal's graduation date from 24 November 2026 to 24 November 2029. Bangladesh was granted the same three-year extension in the same decision, carried as resolution 81/L.8. Nepal had written to the United Nations in May asking for the delay, saying its economy was not ready to give up the trade privileges that go with least developed country status. The government pointed to weak productive capacity, the unfinished rollout of its Smooth Transition Strategy and the risk to duty-free, quota-free access for its exports. Official studies had warned that employment in productive sectors could fall by as much as 35 per cent if graduation went ahead without transition measures. Nepal was first cleared for graduation in 2021, when it was given an unusually long five-year preparatory period because of the Covid-19 pandemic.