Most of the world’s poorest countries got richer over the past decade but are falling further back in the global wealth ranks, according to a UN report.

At least 37 of the world’s poorest 48 nations have put on positive growth in the past decade, said the report by a group of nine “eminent persons”, including former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn and the former Mali President Alpha Oumar Konare.

The report added that the average per capita income in the poorest countries was 18 per cent of the world average in 1971, but only 15 per cent of that average in 2008.

The so-called Least Developed Countries, which range from Afghanistan and Bhutan in Asia to Senegal and Zambia in Africa, now face a widening gap with the low and lower middle income countries which are keeping up with average world income levels.

Since the early 1970s, when the LDCs were first defined by the UN, only three nations – Botswana, Cape Verde and the Maldives – have battled their way out of the group.

The poorest countries are earning a lot of new wealth from commodities but not enough of the money is going back to building up their economies, the panel said in the report for a conference to be held in Istanbul between May 9 and 13.

“Their continuing dependence on primary commodities in general and on agriculture in particular are key indicators of their growing marginalisation,” said the study.

In more than half of the poorest countries, the proportion of manufacturing in the total economy has fallen in the past 20 years.

The report also blamed poor education, health and nutrition and limited infrastructure, as well as the over-dependence on commodity exports.

The Compact For Inclusive Growth and Prosperity said the countries themselves had to take on the task of negotiating better prices for their exports, combating corruption and fighting for the return of stolen assets, and doubling their farm productivity.

The panel said the developed world had to step up aid to the poorest nations to 0.15 per cent of gross national income within two years, and to 0.2 per cent by 2015.