Demographics Loom Large in State Failure

Thanks to Lester Brown for this article.  See  www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2011/highlights20

Demographics Loom Large in State Failure

Earth Policy Release
Data Highlight
November 8 , 2011

After a half-century of forming new states from former colonies and from the breakup of the Soviet Union, the international community is today faced with the opposite situation: the disintegration of states. Failing states are now a prominent feature of the international political landscape.

The most systematic ongoing effort to analyze countries’ vulnerability to failure is one undertaken by the Fund for Peace and published in each July/August issue of Foreign Policy. The research team analyzes 177 countries and ranks them according to “their vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal deterioration,” based on 12 social, economic, and political indicators. Each indicator is scored from 0 to 10. A combined score of 120 would mean that a society is failing totally by every measure. Somalia, the country first on the list, scores 113.4. A score of 0 is the strongest score possible. Finland, number 177 on the list, is the strongest state with a score of 19.7.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2011/highlights20