Somalia tops list of world's most unstable nations

James Blitz | Published: June 29, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FT Syndication Service

LONDON: Somalia has for the first time been ranked as the most unstable country in the world, while Israel has fallen into the ranks of the 60 weakest states, according to an annual assessment of the world's most troubled nations.

The 2008 Failed States Index, which is produced by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, also argues that Sudan, with its crisis in Darfur, is the world's second most unstable country.

Sudan is closely followed by Zimbabwe. The country's economic crisis and political turmoil have triggered the slide in this year's index.

Israel's low score - it ranks 58th on the list - reflects, in the words of the report, "deteriorating security in the West Bank, the country's sharp economic disparities, political stalemates, ongoing violence, and its failure to fully integrate its Arab minority".

According to this year's index, seven of the top 10 most unstable countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. With Chad taking fourth place for political instability, sub-Saharan states occupy four of the top five places in the index.

Fifth place goes to Iraq. This is an improvement on last year, when it was ranked as the second most unstable country. The US military surge has been a key factor in the country's performance in the index this year.

However, Iraq's gains do not reflect long-term, fundamental changes, according to the report's authors. "The desperate predicament of 4.0m refugees at home and abroad, the abysmal state of public services, and the discord among sectarian factions have shown no real improvement," according to the index.

One of the biggest declines in this year's index is registered by Bangladesh, now in 12th place. According to the report, a feuding, deadlocked government, the imposition of emergency rule last year, and the devastation wrought by a cyclone last November that left 1.5m people homeless combined to reverse much of the country's recent economic progress.

The index shows that Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Chad and Iraq are the five states most at risk of failure. These are followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Pakistan and the Central African Republic. The next five on the list are Guinea, Bangladesh, Burma, Haiti and North Korea.

The 2008 index ranks 177 states according to 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators, based on data from more than 30,000 publicly available sources.