The UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has warned that the number of people living on less than $1 a day in the world's 49 least developed countries (LDCs) would reach at least 420 million by 2015 if current economic trends persist. In its least Developed Countries Report 2002, released by Dr. Veena Jha, Coordinator, Unctad India, the UN body has presented a new set of poverty in these countries has doubled over the past the decades to 307 million. But such poverty could be dramatically slashed by doubling average household living standards.