This report provides a comprehensive source of socio-economic analysis and data on the world's most impoverished countries. It calls for least developed countries (LDCs) to ensure that external finance from all sources is directed to national development priorities, and urges the international community to scale up its support toward this goal. Persistent shortfalls in domestic savings in the least developed countries make them heavily dependent on external finance. The least developed countries are most dependent on official development assistance. Official development assistance is essential for LDCs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and eventually escape aid dependence.