Productive capacities in landlocked developing countries

There are significant development-related challenges associated with being landlocked, yet they are not insurmountable. Some of the most successful economies are landlocked, such as Luxembourg and Switzerland, and success stories are not limited to developed countries. For instance, Botswana, one of the three case studies presented in this chapter, is an example of a landlocked developing country that has seen considerable economic progress, although it continues to face significant challenges in diversifying or transforming the economy. However, landlocked developing countries frequently appear towards the bottom of rankings on socioeconomic development. For instance, according to World Development Indicators data, in 2016, the median GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) of landlocked developing countries was $3,557, which was higher than that of the least developed countries ($2,130) but below that of all developing countries ($7,845). With regard to economic complexity, in 2019, the median landlocked developing country ranked 94 out of 133 economies. Also in 2019, landlocked developing countries were among the bottom three of the 163 countries in the Social Progress Index, with the median landlocked developing country at 117.