Hardest hit countries

The term most affected countries ( Most Seriously Affected Countries , in short: MSAC ) is one of the United Nations defined socio-economic, but outdated status, a group of extremely poor countries had anywhere in the world. These hardest hit countries in the world were placed at a level below the least developed countries , in which particularly poor countries are classified.

The term Most Seriously Affected Countries emerged as a result of the 1973 oil crisis and disappeared from the UN vocabulary towards the end of the 1980s. Today a distinction is only made between the least developed countries , the developing countries with no access to the sea and the small island developing countries .

Classification features

MSAC countries were classified according to the following criteria:

1. a low GDP per capita
2. a small share of industry in GDP
3. a high rate of illiteracy
4. one-sided export structures with a simultaneous deterioration in the terms of trade
5. high debt
6. economic recession