Backwardness n. : The state of being backward.

Example:
what other options are there for reversing the trend of economic "Backwardness" in Africa?

Taxonomy
backward, backwardness, model, economy, free encyclopedia, outset, economic development, Rostovian take-off model, institutions, intensive production, reliance, the United Kingdom, country, firms, search, Unsourced, economically, USSR.

Defination from the web:
backwardness could be measured, but alluded to its existence along a northwest-to-southeast axis in ... Germany's backwardness gave it an advantage in that the best practice could be adopted in large scale firms. ...