The annual Failed States Index has been released by Foreign Policy magazine, and the worst failed state for the fourth year in a row is Somalia. Chad and Sudan follow in second and third position, and after that come the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Pakistan, rounding out a total of 12 countries which Foreign Policy has identified as “critical”.
Occupying positions 13 to 25 are Yemen, Nigeria, Niger, Kenya, Burundi, Burma, Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Uganda, North Korea, East Timor, Cameroon and Bangladesh. Sixteen of the top 25 countries are in Africa, one in Central America, two in the Middle East, and the rest in Asia. It is interesting to observe how many countries are considered more “failed” than, for example, North Korea, which comes in at 22 on the list.
Haiti was the country rated as suffering most from demographic pressures and lack of public services, Somalia for refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, and Zimbabwe for human flight. Somalia and Sudan tied for the worst human rights rankings, and Somalia and Chad tied for the greatest delegitimization of the State. More than 70 countries, accounting for almost half of the world’s population, were rated as “critical” or “in danger”.